Tattered and Torn
by Carrie Underwood Fan
Summary: Takes place at 6x17. Lexie and Mark had a bad breakup, that both sent them runnng to their old flames. Now when it looks as though they're both moving on, Lexie has a secret that could change both of their lives. Forever.
1. Chapter 1

_**Yes I know I currently have three other stories but I couldn't help myself. This has been sitting in my head since the 6x17 episode. Okay quick little background info. I have never written for this couple before, so I'm still new to this so be gentle =) Second, from what I've read so far in other Mark and Lexie re-unite stories, in a matter of two chapters she's back in his arms again and everything is all hunky dory. Well not in this story, eventually yes they will get together but they're will be a whole lot of angst along the way. Let me know what you guys think because based on the feedback I will see whether or not I should continue. Happy reading!**_

Lexie felt her heart stop as the words left Alex's mouth. Moving on? How could he be moving on so soon. He knew what she had with Alex wasn't a real relationship. Everyone knew that. But somehow he was moving on. And with Teddy no less. Tall, blonde, perfect Teddy. Her body felt cold, impossible of movement but somehow her legs were propelling her to the bathroom. She swung open the door, letting out a gasping breath as tears formed in her eyes. She looked up to see Meredith drying her hands.

"Hey." said Meredith with a slight grin. Lexie looked back at the door suddenly regretting her decision to enter the bathroom. Meredith's smile dropped when she looked more closely at her sister. "You okay?" questioned Meredith.

"Yeah." she breathed softly. She swallowed the lump she could feel forming in her throat. "Mark's moving on." said Lexie as she shook her head in bewilderment. "Like really."

Meredith looked at Lexie with confusion and uncertainty. "Okay. Well that's good isn't it? Isn't that what you wanted?" questioned Meredith.

Lexie nodded head slightly. "No… that's... it's... good, that's great" stuttered Lexie as her voice shook. "That's… um… that's perfect." as she felt tears increasingly clouding her vision as the lie escaped her mouth. "It's..." said Lexie as her voice broke. "It's perfect... perfect." said Lexie as the damn broke and sobs wracked her body. She bent her knees, her knees grasping the material of her scrubs, pinching it in efforts to pull herself together.

Meredith looked at her sister somewhat sullenly, like she was staring at her past. The feelings Lexie was experiencing seemed too familiar.

Lexie sucked in a breath as she tried to stand up. But she couldn't. The ache she was currently feeling in her heart, felt like an open wound that stung. Stung in a way that was hard to even breathe. Everything was hurting. It was too much to hold. "Oh." she cried as she dropped down to her knees and sobbed.

Meredith watched as Lexie inhaled sharp breaths quickly, trying to get herself to stop. She knew that Lexie didn't want to break down especially in front of her.

"Lexie." called Meredith from the opposite side of the bathroom. She quickly deposited the paper towel in her hands. "Lexie." called Meredith more forcefully. She watched as the younger woman took in a gasping breath, nearly almost choking.

She walked closer to where she towered above her. "Lexie you're either going to hyperventilate or make yourself sick. You need to calm down." said Meredith.

She watched as her younger sister did nothing even close to that and continued to suck in choking breaths. Meredith then crouched down and sat on the floor next to her. She did what she thought was the best thing and pulled Lexie in a hug. Lexie moved closer into Meredith as she buried her head in her shoulder.

Meredith vaguely remembered after the first cut of the merger catching Mark comforting Lexie in the lobby. His hands had been gently stroking her hair; something that looked at the time like it was comforting to her. Her fingers found their way into her tangled blonde locks and she soothingly ran her fingers across her scalp.

"It's okay Lex. You're going to be okay."

* * *

Derek sighed as he stood by the front circulation desk, as he finished replying to Meredith's string of text messages. He had been packed up and well and ready to go home with wife and sleep for the next 48 hours they had off, when he received the first message, which were immediately followed by three more.

_In bathroom with Lexie._

_Breakdown._

_Going to kill Mark._

_Need a few minutes to get her together._

From what Derek could understand by the way Meredith had quickly put it, was that Lexie was having a breakdown in the bathroom and Meredith was in there with her, trying to help and that she was going to kill Mark. He smirked at the last part. No matter how much Meredith refused to admit it, she was actually getting close with Lexie and would even fight off Mark just to protect her.

Just as the though entered his mind he saw Mark heading over to the desk. Mark immediately plopped the chart in his hand onto the desk and started to fill out the bottom of the paperwork.

"Meredith just texted me. She's in the bathroom with Lexie, who's apparently extremely upset." said Derek trying to provoke some sort of response from his friend.

"Not my problem." answered Mark as he scribbled his signature and handed the chart to the nurse. He then turned and walked towards the elevator.

"Mark" called Derek as quickly caught up with him and stood in front of the button, preventing him from going anywhere.

"Look just because you're the Chief during the day and can boss me around then, doesn't mean that you can tell me how to live my life." snapped Mark. "So again I say, it's not my problem."

Derek sighed as he watched Mark angrily storm towards the stair well and then disappear. He then walked back to where he was standing to see Meredith and Lexie standing there. Lexie had her hand gripped tightly on Meredith's arm. Meredith looked at Derek with slightly wide eyes as if she was trying to say she was at a loss of what to do.

"Hey." said Derek softly as he gently smiled at the both of them. "Are you guys ready to go?" asked Derek.

"No. Um... I… um need to run to the clinic... to get something before we go." said Meredith trying to avoid even bringing the word up.

Derek looked at Meredith with confused eyes, he then looked at Lexie who had averted her gaze to the ground. It then hit him like a brick what she had to go get. "Oh." breathed Derek.

"Why don't I take Lexie to the car and you can meet us there?" suggested Derek. Meredith nodded as she gently tried to move Lexie's hands from her arms. Lexie shook her head at Meredith. Holding on to her sister right now was the only security in her life she had at the moment.

"Lexie you'll be fine." reassured Meredith. "I'll be really quick and then we'll go home and figure this all out. Okay?" asked Meredith.

Lexie didn't even acknowledge her sister's words, she just stared straight ahead, a far-away look on her face. Derek motioned for Meredith to trade places with him and he quickly stepped in and let Lexie grasp his arm. Lexie turned as tears welled in her eyes, as she nodded in appreciation at Derek.

"Give me five minutes." said Meredith as she took off for the clinic.

Derek and Lexie slowly started to make their way out through the front entrance and into the parking lot. She suddenly realized what exactly was happening. By tonight she'd know if she was in deeper shit then she already thought she was. She sighed as Derek opened the car door for her and she sat down. This was going to be a long, eventful night.

* * *

Lexie sighed as she paced the bathroom about half an hour later. She had just been left by Meredith who had gone to get her a glass of water, insisting she needed it. She nervously tugged at the sleeved of the shirt Meredith had given her to wear. _Ho could you be so dumb?_ questioned Lexie inwardly as she stared at the plastics sticks on the counter. She looked up when she heard footsteps, expecting Meredith.

"Hey. How's it going in here?" questioned Derek, clearly at a loss at what to say.

"You think I'm a whore don't you? I mean I don't blame you. Who sleeps with another man literally two hours after she broke up with her boyfriend. A married man no less!" said Lexie angrily pushed her hair out of her face.

"Lexie I do not in the least bit think you are a whore." reassured Derek. "Thins like this happen."

"Things like this happen?" questioned Lexie in an exasperated tone. "Things like this just don't happen! Things like this happen on soap operas not in real life! I'm the whore from the two o'clock telenovela!" shouted Lexie.

Derek opened his mouth to speak and nothing came out. Why had he even opened his mouth? If she was pregnant she was right now a hormonal mess, and if she wasn't pregnant she was still a hormonal mess. Why had he even tried?

"I leave you alone with her for five minutes and she's in hysterics?" questioned Meredith as she appeared at the doorframe to the bathroom, with a glass of water in hand. She stepped around Derek and walked into the bathroom where Lexie sat with her head in her hands on the edge of the bathtub.

"Lex." said Meredith gently. "It's been five minutes. You should check." Meredith softly suggested.

Lexie looked up from her spot in her lap into Meredith's eyes and nodded slowly. She stood up and walked over to the counter and gripped it for support. Her hand reached out to turn the plastic over, when it came to an abrupt halt.

"I can't. I can't look." said Lexie as she back away, clearly afraid of what the results would be. "You look. You do it." said Lexie.

Meredith looked at Derek who nodded at her encouraging her to go with Lexie's idea. She squeezed Lexie's arm in reassurance as she stood up for where she sat on the toilet and walked the two feet to the sink. She let out a sigh as she picked it up and gently flipped the plastic over and her eyes quickly scanned it.

She looked up to meet Lexie's eyes. It was then that she noticed how young Lexie truly was. Lexie's big brown eyes looked at her with anticipation to what was going on. Meredith wanted nothing more right now then to play the role of the big sister and shield her from this. She let a nervous sigh as she held her gaze with Lexie.

"It's positive. You're pregnant."

_**Reviews make my day =D**_


	2. Chapter 2

**_Okay so I'm completely shocked at blown away at the response and positive feedback this story has received after only one chapter! Like you people know how to make a person's feel good! It's nice to have this story being well received by people who also write Mark and Lexie well (CSM and Silver1989- check out their stories if you haven't!) enjoying it and leaving positive feedback! So therefore I had to update quickly! You guys deserve it! Happy reading!_**

Lexie groaned as she got out bed the next morning and walked over to the mirror. She'd been up with Meredith until about two o'clock morning, crying, venting, and screaming at how much karma hated her. It was now five o'clock and she'd barely gotten two hours of sleep, due to the tossing and turning she'd done when she finally went to bed.

She quickly pulled off her clothes, too exhausted to even think about showering and reached for her jeans. As she went to put them on she realized how tight they were. Tight to the point where she couldn't even close them. _"How could you have not realized you were pregnant? You're so far along that jeans don't even fit anymore."_ Lexie thought to herself.

"Mere!" shouted Lexie as she inhaled and tried to button her jeans, only to fail once again. "Meredith!"

"Why are you screaming? I was only next door. What's the matter?" questioned Meredith as she entered the room dressed in her red robe.

"What am I screaming? I'm screaming because my jeans don't freaking fit because I was too hysterical about Mark and Sloan and Teddy to even realize that I had gained weight! That's why I'm screaming." said Lexie as she sat down on the bed in defeat.

"Alright well don't panic, we'll figure something out. Tomorrow when we have off we'll go get you a pair of jeans." said Meredith in a simple tone.

"That's fine but what am I supposed to do about today?" questioned Lexie with exasperation. "Am I supposed to go to work with no pants."

Meredith rolled her eyes at Lexie's frantic behavior. She leaned against the door until her head suddenly snapped up, a wide grin on her face.

"I have a plan."

* * *

"I can't believe I'm wearing Derek Shepherd's pants." mumbled Lexie, as she, Meredith and Derek walked through the entrance of the hospital.

"I can't believe she's wearing my pants." said Derek, as Meredith elbowed him in the ribcage causing him to wince slightly.

"I'll make it up to you later, I promise." said Meredith with a smirk as she leaned and quickly kissed him. Derek raised his eyebrows and pulled her back for another kiss.

"I'll see you later." said Derek with a grin. "Be careful with those Lexie." said Derek with a chuckle as he walked away.

"Ha. Ha." Lexie dryly said as she pushed the elevator waiting for it to arrive.

"You know we really should do an ultrasound today. You might farther along then you think you are and…" started Meredith.

"I know. I'm just not sure if I want to yet. I'll think about." said Lexie as they boarded the elevator.

"Hold the door!" a voice called as the patter of wet feet screeching across the tile was heard, and none other than Mark Sloan appeared damp from the rain in his signature leather jacket.

"Three years out here and I still can't get used to the rain." said Mark with a smirk. "Big Grey." he said as he nodded at Meredith.

Lexie glanced over in his direction as he stood in silence. She touched her stomach, very unnoticeably to soothe the nausea she felt forming. She looked back at Mark who had his eyes front watching the elevator move up. She waited for the elevator to ping and quickly darted.

"Lexie." called Meredith, as the elevator closed. She turned and raised her eyebrow at him.

Mark looked at her out of the corner of his eyes and then turned to her with a completely innocent look.

"What? I didn't say anything."

* * *

Lexie sighed as she quickly walked into the resident's lounge as she pulled her hair into a messy ponytail. She quickly looked around the locker room to realize no one was here.

"Crap." swore Lexie as she quickly pulled her clothes off and raced towards the area where all the residents were usually given their daily assignments. She saw everyone departing and going their specified ways.

"I'm sorry I'm late. I had to..." started Lexie.

"Save it." said Dr. Green, the chief resident. "You're on Sloan's case today." she said as she shoved the file towards her.

"Dr. Sloan?" questioned Lexie in near hysteric. She quickly opened to see who the superior resident and other attending were.

_Dr. Alex Karev_

_Dr. Teddy Altman. _

"Great." whispered Lexie as she looked up at the sky. "Why do you hate me so much?" she questioned.

"Where were you?" asked Meredith as she showed up at her side suddenly. "And what happened in the elevator with Mark?" asked Meredith.

"It wasn't Mark… well maybe some of it was Mark." rambled Lexie. "I apparently out of the blue now have morning sickness. So I was puking was where I was, which is partly why I ran out of the elevator. And now look who I have surgery with. Mark, Alex and Teddy." said Lexie.

Meredith patted her arm and laughed slightly at her sister's dramatic emphasis on the morning. "Have fun." said Meredith with a smirk as she walked off.

"I'd rather go throw up again."

* * *

"Nice of you to finally join us Grey." said Teddy as Lexie walked into the scrub room.

"Sorry." mumbled Lexie as she stood next to Alex opposite from Teddy. Mark was sitting by the child's feet, working on a skin graft.

"Well we started already so you can hold the retractor for now." answered Teddy as one of the scrub nurses handed it over.

"Man this kid is pretty beat up." commented Alex as he worked along with Teddy to repair the heart.

"She's got a long road ahead of her, that's for sure. But she's definitely a fighter, she came this far and she's going to pull through." said Teddy.

Lexie glanced at the face of the patient and had to restrain herself from losing it. This little girl couldn't have been more than five years old and yet she was such critical condition.

"What kind of parents leave lighter fluid and a match near a kid? " asked Alex.

"Dumb parents." answered Mark bluntly. "People who shouldn't be parents in the first place."

"Kids for you Mark?" asked Teddy. She had heard about Sloan, but knew that Mark really never got to experience anything with her that was remotely considered parenting.

"Hopefully within the next few years, yeah." answered Mark. "I'm pretty ready to start a family soon."

Lexie gulped behind her mask. She tried to ignore the feeling in the pit of the stomach, reassuring herself it was nausea not fear. _"Stay calm Lexie"_ she reassured to herself.

"What about you Grey? Kids in the future?" asked Teddy.

Lexie formed as fake of a smile as she could. She scanned Teddy who was waiting for answer. Not only was she blonde, tall and skinny, she was also extremely polite in every way possible. _"Why can't I hate you!"_ shouted Lexie's thoughts as she met eyes with the older woman.

"Well, I'm…" started Lexie.

"Dr. Grey doesn't want kids. Right Grey?" interrupted as he locked eyes with Lexie. "Grey here isn't a big kid person." Mark said gruffly.

Lexie felt hot tears pooling into her eyes. She closed them quickly trying to let herself not break down again. She watched as Alex looked at her, knowing the words he just saud stung.

"Yeah… um… no kids."

* * *

"This is about the last thing I want to be doing right now Meredith." said Lexie as she flopped back on her back on the exam room table.

"Bad surgery?" questioned Meredith as she rolled the ultrasound machine, to where it stood next to her. She started to prep the machine.

"Horrible. It's been a horrible day. I don't have jeans that fit anymore, I suddenly have morning sickness out of nowhere and Mark's being an asshole again. My day was peachy." answered Lexie sarcastically.

"Alright Miss Sunshine well let's check on that baby of yours. I'm only doing the ultrasound. You have to make an appointment with your OB got it?" said Meredith.

Lexie rolled her eyes at her sister's sudden protectiveness. "Yeah fine. Can we just do this? I have Ben and Jerry waiting for me in your freezer." said Lexie with a smirk.

Meredith laughed slightly as she squirted gel onto her sister's slightly swollen stomach. She gently moved the wand around, until a steady heartbeat was heard throughout the room.

"Oh my god." breathed Lexie.

Of course she knew she had been pregnant, but this all felt so surreal. Up until now, it hadn't really hit her that an actually growing person was inside of her. Someone who would need her for everything in it's first few months of life.

A knock was heard at the door. "Hey Mere?" questioned Alex. "I know you're giving an ultrasound but have you seen Lexie?" questioned Alex as the door opened slightly.

"She left after surgery pretty quickly and I wanted to make…" stopped Alex as he saw what the two of them were doing.

Both Meredith and Lexie watched as he looked slightly in shock at them and then focused in on the screen, and the loud thump that was still heard throughout the room. Lexie sighed as she put her hand to her face.

"Great."

_**Reviews make my day =)**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Once again I want to thank everyone for the great feedback! Some questions about the pregnancy will be addressed in this chapter, while with other things you will have to wait and see! Now this will probably be the last update for a good week to two weeks because I need to update my other story and unfortunately classes have started again which means less free time =/ But I'll be as speedy as I can! Happy reading =)**_

"Alex." said Meredith trying to keep him calm. She quickly wiped the gel off Lexie's stomach and turned down the machine so he couldn't examine it father.

"How many weeks is she?" asked Alex as he stepped into the room, locking the door behind him.

"I…. I want her to see her OB and get a pelvic exam done to completely determine it." said Meredith stubbornly as she offered Lexie her hand to pull her into a sitting position.

"Meredith answer the damn question." said Alex, as his voice rose slightly.

Meredith looked for Lexie's approval before she continued. Lexie bowed her head, not wanting to even look Alex in the eye. _"This is your fault." _she thought to herself. "_Who sleeps with two men with 24 hours of each other? You're a doctor you know the medical consequences!" _

"Thirteen weeks." said Meredith softly.

Alex let out a sigh as he tipped his head back, knowing that there was no way of knowing this early on who the father of the baby could be. He shook his head as he locked gazes with Lexie.

"Just let me know when you get the stupid test if it's my kid or not." said Alex as he quickly left slamming the door behind him.

Lexie shook her head as she forcefully wiped tears that threatened to spill. First the tears were happiness that so far the baby was healthy, then when Alex had entered they had become, angry and sad tears. Angry at herself and then sad, because without intentionally realizing it Alex had called her a whore. Jus the way his shameful eyes looked at her had said it all. She looked up to meet Meredith's nervous stature.

"Well that went well."

* * *

"My life sucks." said Lexie through a mouthful of Ben and Jerry's Peanut Butter Cup ice cream. "Like really sucks."

"Stop saying that." said Meredith as she dipped her spoon in the container Lexie was holding. "Everything will be figured out. We'll find out who the father is, and you'll move on with your life."

"I'm not a ready for a baby! I have trouble getting through long surgeries without sleep! Can you imagine functioning with a baby who screams all night long." said Lexie.

Meredith sighed and patted her sister's leg comfortingly. Lexie gave a small smile back towards her as she inhaled another large spoonful of the ice-cream.

"Can I ask you something?" asked Meredith gently.

"Yeah." said Lexie as she turned in suspicion towards Meredith.

"Well you know how sometimes mother's have the intuition if the baby is a boy or girl, do you have that with who the baby's father is?" questioned Meredith.

Lexie sighed and nodded her head slowly. "I mean I think I do. I mean… I really think that it could be…." started Lexie.

Just as the words left Lexie's mouth, the front door opened and in walked Derek and Mark. Meredith shot Derek a curious look, while Lexie avoided Mark's gaze and tried to find the ice-cream more fascinating.

"Hey. The Yankee game is on and we decided to have a couple of beers and watch it here." said Derek as he went into the kitchen to retrieve their drinks.

"Oh." said Meredith. "Mark." said Meredith as she nodded at him.

"Big Grey." said Mark as he returned her greeting. "Lexie." said Mark with another nod.

Lexie ignored his way of a hello and quickly stood up with the ice-cream tub in her hands.

"I'm going to bed. Night Mere." said Lexie as she scurried past Mark up the stairs and went into her room locking the door behind her. She sighed as set the ice-cream on the nightstand and lay down in the bed. _"Maybe if I go to sleep this all go away by morning."_

* * *

Lexie jolted up slightly in bed later that night. She looked at the clock; she still heard voices up so it shouldn't be too late. He eyes peered over to the digital clock. _1:10_. suddenly her stomach rumbled and she understood why she was up. She quickly leapt out of bed. She ran towards the bathroom in the hallway, to hear the shower running.

_Who is taking a shower at 1 o'clock in the freaking morning?" _asked Lexie to herself as she quickly ran down to the main floor and scurried into the small bathroom off of the kitchen. She made it just in time to get horribly sick. She felt someone pulling her hair back and rubbing her back and assumed it was Meredith, but then she felt the masculine hands. She knew those hands. Those hands had given her pleasure countless amounts of times.

"Easy. Its okay." soothed Mark gently as her stomach continued to lurch. Finally after about five minutes she pulled away from the grasp she had on the toilet and leaned back against the cool tile of the wall.

Mark filled up a cup of water from the sink and handed it to her. "Spit." ordered Mark.

Lexie swished the liquid around in her mouth and quickly spit it out, flushing the toilet and standing up.

"Thanks." mumbled Lexie in slight appreciation as she reached for the spare toothbrush she kept down here and quickly began to brush her teeth.

"Too much ice-cream?" mused Mark. Lexie shot him a look as she pushed past him. "Lexie." said Mark as he followed her out.

"Don't Lexie me." said Lexie as she headed for the stairs. "And you know what are you even doing here?" asked Lexie, anger clearly rising in her voice with each word spoken. "It's one o'clock in the morning."

"The game just ended. I'm going home now. _Teddy's _waiting." said Mark emphasizing the fact that she was there.

"You're an ass." said Lexie as she shook her head and started up the stairs.

"I'm an ass?" questioned Mark. "Have you met the guy you're shacking up?" asked Mark.

Lexie wasn't a fighter, and she didn't feel like herself, so that's why she didn't know what possessed her to walk down the stairs and stare eye to eye with Mark. It took two seconds for her reflexes to suddenly kick in, and next thing she knew she had smacked Mark sharply across the face.

Mark inhaled sharply as he rubbed the spot on his cheek that her hand had come in contact with. "What the hell was that for?" questioned Mark.

"I didn't…. I wasn't… I don't know." stuttered Lexie.

"You don't know?" questioned Mark as he took a step forward slightly, his arms wide in exaggeration. "So then why the hell did you hit me? Why…" Mark questioned but suddenly stopped when he saw the fear in Lexie's eye.

He saw the way he was standing with his arms out and how close he had gotten to her. She whimpered slightly as she looked away. She thought he was going to her hurt her. He felt like he'd been punched in the gut. He slowly put his arms down.

"Lexie." he said quietly. "You actually thought I was going to hurt you?" asked Mark in a meek voice, a voice that Lexie didn't recognize coming from Mark.

"No… I didn't think that. I don't know…… I don't know what I thought." said Lexie as she put her hand on her forehead and turned away from him, clearly ashamed at the way that she had acted.

"What the hell happened to us?" questioned Mark softly.

"We broke up."

* * *

Lexie sighed as she climbed the stairs later that night. Mark and she had practically stood there in an awkward silence after the whole slap sequence of events. They finally quickly and awkwardly parted ways, Mark quickly grabbing his jacket and leaving without even saying goodbye.

The words Mark had said played over and over again in her head. What had they become? People who resented each other so much that they couldn't even be in the same room? People that wanted to be friends but didn't know how to be? Or people that still loved each other but didn't how to deal with it?

She walked past Meredith and Derek's room surprised to see the lights off and the faint sounds of Meredith's snoring. By now normally at this time, they were still awake going at it like rabbits. _"They're so in love" _thought Lexie as she continued down the hall.

She walked by Alex's room surprised to see him sitting on his bed just staring blankly at the wall, with all the lights in his room on. Lexie had heard him come after a late shift around twelve, but now it was almost two o'clock. Why wasn't he fast asleep?

"Hey." said Lexie quietly as she leaned against the doorframe. "Can't sleep?" questioned Lexie.

Alex nodded. "Yeah. I've just been thinking." he glanced over at the clock next to him. "What're you doing up? It's pretty late." commented Alex.

"I was asleep for awhile. Until my stomach thought it would be fun to empty its entire contents." said Lexie with a dry smile.

Alex wrinkled his brows in concern. "Are you okay? Are you in pain? Should I take you to the hospital?" questioned Alex as he stood up, preparing himself to move.

Lexie smiled. This was what people didn't understand when they first met Alex. Yes he could be a complete asshole and total jerk at times, but deep down he has a big heart. He's someone who as doctor does what's best for his patients, not caring what measures he has to take in order to do it. But he's doing all that he does because he cares. Because he's a good person.

"It's okay really. I'm fine." assured Lexie. "It's just morning sickness. Or in this case night sickness." said Lexie as she walked over and sat at the edge of the bed.

Alex sighed as he sat next to her. They sat in an uncomfortable silence, Lexie twiddling her fingers while Alex just stared at the ground, until he finally met her gaze and said.

"I wouldn't have bailed you know. I'm not going to bail if this baby is mine." said Alex.

"Alex… you think people assume the worst of you. I knew you weren't going to bail. You were angry and upset and confused. Feelings that I've become all too familiar with lately." said Lexie with a small grin. "But I never thought you would bail."

Alex smiled softly. "Thanks." They both sat there in silence for a moment until Alex looked up again. "So…… now we wait. Right?" questioned Lexie. "Because you can't have DNA testing done in utero until you hit sixteen weeks." said Alex.

Lexie nodded as she stood up. "Now we wait." said Lexie as she made her way to the door. "I'm going to go to bed, I have an early shift tomorrow." said Lexie as she stifled a yawn, her body signaling that it was finally ready for rest.

"Good night." said Alex as Lexie turned to leave. "Lexie?" questioned Alex.

"Yeah?" asked Lexie as she turned back slightly to face him.

"If you need someone tomorrow morning… if you're not feeling well again. Don't hesitate to wake me." said Alex.

Lexie nodded and with a slight wave she turned and headed back towards her room. She sighed as she crawled into bed. Her entire body suddenly aching. She felt her hand tentatively move towards her stomach. Throughout this whole ordeal, she couldn't even remember if she had actually acknowledged the baby. She let her hand rest there and shut her eyes as she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Two weeks had gone by since Mark had last made contact with Lexie. He avoided her in any way possible, from scheduling surgeries around her, to discreetly leaving the hospital later at night with Teddy. Teddy. That was another problem in itself. He knew she wasn't in the relationship. To be honest neither was he, but neither of them could seem to pull away. It was the comfort of having someone there at night, someone to go home to.

Mark walked up the nurse's desk with a chart in hand. He noticed Lexie standing, there leaning up against the counter. Her blonde hair pulled into a tight pony-tail. He couldn't help but notice how her eyebrows were scrunched as she quickly wrote out the post-op notes.

He also noticed something unusual though. How incredibly pale she looked. Yes her skin had always been a porcelain color, but today she looked like a ghost. She also kept stopping every few minutes to close her eyes and grip the counter with her noticeably clammy hands. He scooted over slightly as she stopped yet again to pinch the granite counter tightly.

"You alright Dr. Grey?" questioned Mark in as much of a professional tone as he could muster. Lately that's all they associated each other as Dr. Sloan and Dr. Grey. What had happened to just Lexie and Mark?

"Yeah… I'm fine." said Lexie as her body swayed slightly. "I'm…"

And the next thing Mark knew she was falling in a heap towards the ground. He reached out quickly and grabbed her preventing her from completely falling. She slumped against him as he kneeled down careful to not jolt her around. His heart began to beat faster as he realized she was unconscious.

"Lexie?" questioned Mark. "Lex?" he asked more urgently. "Lexie can you hear me?" he questioned again. He looked around to see doctors and nurses bustling around in every direction.

"I need help over here!"

_**....... I know I'm evil. I'm very aware of it =) Reviews make my day!**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**Once again have to give a major thanks to everyone who reviewed! I hope you guys are enjoying reading it as much as I like writing it! So you unanimously agreed that I was evil =D so I knew I had to update soon and not keep you waiting! You can all thank CSM for pushing me to update! So here it is, Happy reading!**_

Meredith was walking with Cristina when she heard a yell a few feet away. Her eyes snapped up, recognizing the voice. She peered down the corridor, and saw Mark on the ground with a woman in his arms. With blond hair. Meredith immediately sprinted down the corridor and over to where they were, Cristina quickly trailing behind her.

"What happened?" asked Meredith as she quickly dropped to her knees and like Mark did moments before quickly checked for a pulse. It was there, and it was strong, but not as strong as it should have been.

"I don't know… I… she was telling me she was fine one minute and then the next second she hit the ground…. I don't know what happened." stuttered Mark nervously. "I don't know if she hit her head or not… I..." said Mark.

"Page Shepherd, Hunt and Torres." said Meredith, to one of the nurses that had suddenly appeared. "Help me move her onto the gurney." said Meredith to Mark as Cristina quickly moved the bed towards them.

Mark and Meredith both swiftly picked up Lexie and laid her down on the bed. Meredith felt her heart speed up, as she realized of what could be the problem of all of this. She turned to Cristina her eyes suddenly filled with fear.

"Page Dr. Lee." mouthed Meredith to Cristina, knowing it was not the best time to announce to everyone including Mark that they needed an OB for the baby. Cristina looked at her in bewilderment until it registered and she quickly nodded and reached for the phone behind the desk.

Why was I paged to here and not the ER if it's 911? Why..." Owen started as he quickly walked up and saw Lexie lying there, with Mark clutching onto her hand. "Alright let's get her into a room." said Owen as he swiftly moved the gurney with Cristina into the vacant room.

"I was in the middle of explaining a procedure to a patient why…" said Callie as she walked in the room, she suddenly saw the scene in front of her. "What happened?" as she quickly walked over to the bed.

"We don't know. She passed out, I paged you though because the way she fell looked like it might have fractured her ankle." said Meredith. "But mainly I paged you for him." whispered Meredith, as she signaled in Mark's direction.

Mark stood next to Lexie, still clutching her limp hand tightly. He hadn't left Lexie's side since she had fallen and hadn't spoken since he had tried to explain to Meredith what had happened. Visibly he looked shaken by the whole ordeal.

"What's going on?" called Derek as he walked into the room. "I was in a meeting with..." started Derek before he saw everyone in the room and saw Lexie. "What the hell happened?" questioned Derek as he quickly walked over to the bed, where Hunt was placing an oxygen mask over her face.

"We don't know." answered Meredith; she quickly pulled Derek to the side. "I paged Lee, I think it might have something to do with the…" said Meredith as she indicated to her stomach, not wanting to say the word.

"Hold on a second." interrupted Owen, calming all the chatter that had been spreading throughout the room. Everyone turned too looked at him, bewildered to why he had stopped.

"Look. She's trying to wake up."

* * *

Lexie eye's felt heavy as she tried to open her eyes. The twinging in her abdomen she had been feeling all morning had intensified, making it difficult to even breathe. She slowly opened her eyes to have them scorched by the bright light in the room. As she opened her eyes, she looked into Mark's worried ones. _"Wait a second why am I lying down?" _questioned Lexie in her head. It suddenly hit her like a brick what had happened and she immediately tried to sit up against the pain. She pulled at the mask that was providing her air, lifting it off.

"Whoa." said Mark gently as he pushed her back down against the pillows. "Don't try and get up just yet." said Mark as he gently pushed her hair behind her ears.

"Welcome back Grey." said Owen. "Alright everyone back up so I can make sure everything is working the way it should be." said Owen. "You too." said Owen as he nodded at Mark, who reluctantly took two steps back and let go of Lexie's hand.

"I'm just going to look into your eyes and do a quick test okay?" questioned Derek, as Lexie nodded as her eyes responded to the light. "Perfect. You probably just bumped your head.

Owens's hands were pressing along her stomach to make sure that there weren't any internal injuries, when he suddenly stopped and looked up at her. He knew what he just felt. Lexie looked at him, her eyes begging not to announce what he had just discovered.

"Yep you're all good here too. You just need to make sure to take better care of yourself." said Owen with a raise of eyebrows at her. He was suddenly interrupted by his pager. "I have to take this." said Owen as he looked at the pager. "Remember what I said Grey." he said as he left the room.

"Yeah you're foot just looks like a small sprain. Just try not to be on it too much and ice it if it swells." said Callie as she reassuringly patted her leg. "I'll be outside if you guys need me." said as she squeezed Mark's shoulder. "Come on Yang."

"But I want to see what happens with the…" started Cristina, before she was given a death look by Meredith. "I mean, I'm coming" said Cristina as she quickly followed Callie out of the room.

Lexie let out a small sigh, trying to absorb all the information that they all had just thrown at her. She felt the pressure in her abdomen come back and gasped in pain as she reached for her stomach.

"Mark." she cried out as she reached for his hand. She shouldn't be doing this. She knew that they were from here on out supposed to keep it on a work based relationship. But right now in this very moment she needed him.

"Okay. Its okay." soothed Mark as he let his fingers intertwine with hers once again. "We're going to figure out why you're in pain." said Mark as he smoothed her hair gently.

Lexie looked up and met Meredith's gaze. She felt tears pool into her eyes as she saw her sister's worried look.

"Mere... I can't lose the… I just…" started Lexie as tears started to fall from her eyes.

"You can't lose what?" asked Mark, not understanding why Lexie was getting upset. "What are you talking about?" asked Mark as he felt Lexie grip his hand tighter.

"Lexie you need to relax." said Meredith gently as she walked over to the bed. "I already paged Dr. Lee she's on her way down. We'll figure out what's going on." said Meredith calmly.

Lexie nodded as tears continued to trickle down her face. She cried out in pain as felt the pain in her abdomen rip through her yet again.

"Wait Dr. Lee? Why is she coming down?" questioned Mark as looked at Meredith, and then looked at Lexie clearly very confused. "Will someone tell me what's going on?" demanded Mark.

Meredith looked nervously at Derek as she took a step back from the bed, knowing this definitely wasn't her place to be right now. She watched as Lexie sniffled and tried to gain some composure as she turned to Mark.

"Lexie what's going on?" asked Mark softly as he gently wiped the remaining tears off of her cheek.

Lexie let out a shaky breath as her brown eyes, met his blue ones. She nervously pushed her hair out of her face.

"I'm pregnant." said Lexie quietly.

Mark looked at her clearly not expecting the answer he had just received. He looked at her with a questioning glance. He let his hand drop from where it was holding hers. He stood up backing away from the bed, and turned to her and bitterly said,

"Maybe you should call the father."

* * *

Lexie sat there in the dark hospital room later that night, trying to stop herself from doing any more crying than she'd already done. The baby was fine, Dr. Lee had said she hadn't had enough nutrients, and was dehydrated resulting in her collapse. Now all she could do was think about the way Mark had looked at her when he said those words.

_Maybe you should call the father_

The way he had said and the way he had looked at her like she was trash. Lexie Grey was not trash and was most certainly not a whore. She just didn't know who the father of her baby was.

"_You are a whore."_ thought Lexie to herself as she felt tears prick her eyes. She listened as she heard footsteps coming into the room and quickly wiped her tears away. She smiled slightly when she saw it was Alex.

"Hey." said Alex as he sat at the edge of her bed.

"Hi." said Lexie softly, as she played with the fabric of her hospital gown. She didn't need to look in his eyes and be told the exact same thing Mark had said.

"So the cat's out of the bag?" questioned Alex.

"Basically. No one really knew until Mark left ranting and screaming about. Now the whole freaking hospital knows." said Lexie.

"So what?" questioned Alex. "People are always going to talk that's how it is. At least they're talking about that. They could be going around saying you're screwing Yang or something ridiculous like that." said Alex with a smirk.

Lexie giggled slightly but immediately stopped herself. "It's not funny." said Lexie half – laughing, half groaning.

"Well maybe it isn't, but it got you to laugh." said Alex with a slight grin.

"It did." said Lexie with a small smile. "Thanks. I needed that."

Alex nodded back, as they sat in there in silence for a moment. "Can I ask you for a favor?" asked Alex.

Lexie rolled her eyes with a teasing grin. "I knew the reason you came in here wasn't just to see me. What do you want Karev?" joked Lexie.

"Could you just… I don't take better care of yourself and the baby. So you don't go around fainting and getting sick. Because you scared the crap out of me and I know this baby might not be mine… I know that. But I'm now emotionally involved with this kid." said Alex.

Lexie tilted her head slightly, taken aback by the words he had just said. She smiled lightly and squeezed his hand gently with hers.

"Deal."

* * *

Mark stared at his third glass of scotch, playing with the frost on the glass. Derek sat next to him still nursing his first beer, as he cracked open peanuts. He quickly downed the remaining liquor in his glass and signaled Joe for another one.

"Mark." reasoned Derek. "Don't you think you've had enough?" he asked.

Derek knew Mark was already long gone, between the emotional rollercoaster he'd been put through today and the large amount of alcohol that was now in his system, he was somewhere between completely lost and bitterly drunk.

"Why is it that no one wants me to be a dad?" slurred Mark. "Am I really that much of a man-whore still?" asked Mark.

"Mark" argued Derek.

"I mean think about it. Addison aborted my baby. Sloan gave hers away. Lexie is having a baby with another man." quipped Mark as he took a long sip of the new glass that was set in front of him.

"Mark." tried Derek again. "Think about it."

"There's nothing to think about. I'm almost thirty seven years old. I was supposed to be somewhere by now, where am I? I'm alone and I don't have a family."

"You have Teddy." reasoned Derek. "I thought that was going well."

Mark shook his head, something in him finally admitting what he'd been denying since he started seeing her.

"She's just a… fling. And she shouldn't be treated like that, but she's using me for the same reason so the feelings mutual." said Mark. "But isn't it ironic how Lexie didn't even want a baby and yet she's having one and I'm not." rambled Mark.

"Okay Mark." said Derek as he gripped his friends shoulder. "I know you are not completely here right now, but I need you to really think. Okay?" questioned Derek, as Mark nodded his head.

"Alright. So if Lexie is fifteen weeks like the doctor said, that means she could have gotten pregnant in the second week of January, when the two of you were still together. Therefore, there is a fifty percent chance that the baby is yours." said Derek.

And all of a sudden Mark felt himself sober up. His mind started clicking away, at what Derek had said. He was right. There was a chance that baby was his. And now he had screwed everything up with his potential child's mother. And he knew the court system, if that kid was his and Lexie didn't want him around that child, the court would favor her. He shook his head as he stressfully ran his fingers along his jaw line.

"Great."

_**Reviews make my day =)**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**Hello again guys =) I'm being terribly horrible to my other story right now, and have kind of put the one on the backburner until the semester is over, which means this one is my main focus until then! Okay so I need to address some issues brought up in the reviews about Alex "stepping up" and me "putting him on a pedestal". First of all Mark just found out about the baby, so you'll see how he reacts and takes to it. Alex is acting the way he is and saying those things because he knows and has adjusted to the idea. For the umpteenth time people this**__** WILL**__** be a Mark/Lexie story. It's just not going to happen instantaneously. With that little rant being said here's the next chapter =)**_

Mark stood outside the door to Teddy's apartment. It had been two days since the Lexie incident and somehow he still couldn't believe what Derek was saying. Was there really a chance that he got another do over card as a chance to be a dad?

He had just broken up with Teddy. Technically it wasn't breaking up because they were never really dating but somehow, it still felt like one. You could tell Teddy could see it coming, and he knew if hadn't have been the one to initiate the break up then she would have. It hadn't been a real relationship but they still made sure to leave it on good terms. He pulled out his cell phone, knowing where his next destination would be. He quickly climbed into the car and took off towards Meredith and Derek's.

"_Hi this is Lexie I can't take your call right now, leave a message and I'll get back to you a soon as I can."_

Mark hung up quickly, knowing that she hadn't worked a shift tonight and would be home. Derek had given her three days off since her collapse to re-cooperate and get things in order. He smiled slightly at how the message had sounded. Her slight giggle at the beginning being partially his fault.

_Lexie sat with a determined look on her face as she played around with her new phone, trying to figure out how to set up her voice mail. Mark sighed as he walked back into the small living room and sat down next to her on the couch. _

"_You've been trying to figure that out for an hour." said Mark as he gently kissed her neck._

"_And I will continue to sit here until I figure it out. I mean how ridiculous is that they can load all your old contacts onto your new phone, but not your voicemail." said Lexie as she continued to press buttons, ignoring Mark's hot breath on her neck._

"_Ridiculous." agreed Mark as he snipped slightly at her neck, causing Lexie to let out a small moan. She quickly snapped out of her moment of weakness and slapped him away._

"_Stop trying to distract me. Phone now. Sex later." answered Lexie._

"_Lexie." whined Mark as she continued to hit buttons. He sat there in silence before a small grin appeared on his face. "So you're saying you don't want this to happen?" asked Mark as he kissed along her clavicle bone._

_Lexie shivered slightly at his touch. "Nope." answered Lexie as firmly as she could. "Not until I'm done."_

_Mark raised his eyebrows from where he sat behind her. He carefully slid the tee-shirt Lexie had on, off the shoulder so he could pay special attention to it. He began to kiss and gently bite her shoulder. _

"_How about this?" questioned Mark in-between kisses._

_Lexie's body stiffened slightly in pleasure slightly. She felt her heat beat quicker in her chest as his lips started moving downward and his hand began to make its way to the back of her bra. She gently shimmied her way out of something that clearly could become something._

"_Mark." warned Lexie._

"_Lexie." Mark replied in the same tone. She raised her eyebrow slightly at him before; he let out a defeated sigh. "Fine. I'll just sit here and wait." said Mark as he sat back against the cushions of the couch._

"_Thank you." said Lexie as she focused her attention back on the tiny screen. She let out a sigh as she repeatedly hit buttons in attempt to get somewhere with the phone._

_Mark watched her for a few minutes before grinning devilishly. He was careful to make sure all her focus was on the phone as he leaned forward and his hands quickly reached her body, tickling her._

_Lexie's body immediately jerked around from the sensation. Mark laughed knowing how incredibly ticklish she was and how difficult it was for her to not break down into giggles. His hands quickly moved up towards her chest knowing that was a more ticklish zone._

"_Mark." laughed Lexie as she turned to him in complete giggles. "Hey stop it." she said in between giggles._

"_Nope." said Mark with a laugh as he swiftly picked her up and pinned her to couch, Lexie shrieking as he did so. Lexie continued to laugh until she held up her hands._

"_Alright. Alright I give in." said Lexie as she held up her phone for Mark to grab. She giggles as he quickly snatched it and tossed it on the opposite side of the couch. She hungrily kissed him as she reached for his shirt, quickly pulling it over his head._

_She smiled as his chest was revealed and she slowly started softly placing kisses all over, teasing his body like he had done to hers moments before._

"_Lexie." Mark moaned._

_Lexie smiled and was about to continue, until she heard a voice. A loud but muffled voice._

"_Please enter your desired password, then press pound."_

_Lexie quickly shoved Mark off of her and lunged to the other side of the couch in search of the phone. She quickly retrieved it and punched in the numbers she wanted._

"_Lexie." said Mark as he moved closer to her._

"_Shh!" said Lexie as she put her fingers over his lips. "Its working." whispered Lexie._

_Mark started to protest, but Lexie quickly put her hand over his mouth. His words were muffled in response as he tried to speak. Lexie began to laugh clearly enjoying this, and just as the beep went off she let out a giggle._

"_Hi this Lexie I can't take your call right now, leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon I can." said Lexie. _

_She quickly hit the instructed buttons to save her message and then snapped the phone shut and quickly removed her hand from Mark's mouth and kissed him on the lips in apology._

"_Done." said Lexie with a grin. "Now where were we?" questioned Lexie with a twinkle in her eyes._

_Mark grinned back in response as he quickly closed the gap between them and kissed her hungrily and passionately. They both pulled back shedding the remaining clothing items they wore. Lexie groaned softly as she felt Mark's breath hot on her neck, as he finally answered her question._

"_Right about here."_

* * *

Mark stood outside the door to Meredith's house debating whether to even ring the doorbell. _"Come on Sloan."_. He honestly couldn't remember the last time a girl had him this confused or tongue-tied. It was like being a teenage boy all over again. He went with his instincts and knocked on the door.

"Coming!" called Lexie's voice from the other side of the door. The door opened seconds later, Lexie's faint smile she had been wearing dropped.

"Hi." said Lexie quietly.

"Hi." said Mark.

He looked at the way she stood, almost defensively with her arms crossed over chest. He smiled slightly as he saw what she was wearing. His old Columbia sweat-shirt that was twice the size of her. He had never asked for it back, and she had never given it back. She had on an old pair of yoga pants and her hair as pulled into a messy pony-tail at the nape of her neck. But somehow she still looked perfect.

"Can we talk?" asked Mark as nervously ran his fingers along his jaw line.

Lexie nodded as she opened the door more, indicating to come in. She closed the door softly behind him as they stepped into the hallway. She put her fingers over her lips indicating to be quiet. She pointed over to the living room where some late night talk show was playing softly, and where Meredith and Derek were sleeping soundly on the couch. She then indicated to him to follow her upstairs to the attic.

They quickly climbed the stairs, until they reached the door. The door that Mark remembered sneaking in and out of so many times before. Lexie stepped into the room and shut the door behind her, before her voice rose slightly.

"Look if you've come to yell at me or call me names, then you can just go." said Lexie.

"I didn't come here to say that." said Mark. "I came because… because I realized how… how that the baby could possibly be mine." said Mark quietly.

"No? Really?" said Lexie in fake astonishment. "I didn't know that." said Lexie as she scratched her head in a mocking gesture. "I knew that already Mark! I've known that since the day I found out. You're the only one who couldn't put two and two together." yelled Lexie.

"Alright stop." yelled Mark. "I know I'm a moron and I know I'm a jerk but…." said Mark as his voice grew quieter, almost embarrassed to admit what he was going to admit. "But if this baby is mine. I need to know that you'll let me be apart of its life. That you'll give me a chance." said Mark as he sat down on the edge of the bed.

Lexie's expression softened at Mark's admittance. She sighed as she sat down on the bed next to him. He had told her what had happened with Addison and the baby and how much she had hurt him, and she knew how much it truly bothered him that he hadn't been apart of Sloan's life. She put her hand on top of his in a re-assuring gesture.

"I'm not Addison." said Lexie. "And I'm not Samantha Riley. You know I wouldn't do something like that." said Lexie softly.

"I know you wouldn't." said Mark. "I just... I needed..." started Mark.

"Re-assuring." said Lexie finishing his thought. "You needed to be re-assured. I get it."

Mark nodded, as he felt Lexie's hand grip tighter onto his. He had forgotten how small and delicate her hands were to his. And they were soft, unlike his slightly rough ones.

"How're you feeling?" asked Mark awkwardly.

"I'm okay. I'm making sure to eat even when I'm nauseous. The whole nauseous thing has died down though since hitting the second trimester." said Lexie.

"Good. That's good that you're feeling good." said Mark with a nod. He sat in silence not even wanting to ask the next question that was haunting him in the back of his head.

"So when are you going to find out… about the whole…" said Mark clearly trying to avoid even bringing it up.

"You mean finding out who the father is?" asked Lexie, getting right to the point. "Well I have an appointment with my OB next week and I'll ask her about it and see when will be the best for the baby to do it. But it should be within the next three weeks because you know after 20 weeks you can't." rambled Lexie.

Mark smirked slightly at her persistent rambling. Definitely a trait she had inherited from her father, since both she and Meredith frequently did it. Lexie looked around the room, clearly at a loss to say.

"You can... um... come to the appointment next week. I mean Alex will be there because of… you know. But you should be there. I mean... I want you there." admitted Lexie.

Mark nodded. "I'll be there." said Mark as he squeezed her hand gently.

"Okay. Good." said Lexie as she let out a nervous breath she hadn't realized she had been holding in. Suddenly her eyes lit up." Hey you want to see something cool?" she asked as she released her grasp from Mark's hand and walked over to her dresser. She opened her drawer and rummaged around before pulling out a white envelope.

Mark's eyes brows rose in a quisitve expression unsure of what was inside. Lexie sat back down next to him as she pulled out the black and white image.

"These were taken two weeks ago when Meredith gave me an ultra sound." said Lexie. "That little thing that looks like the size of a strawberry, that's the baby." said Lexie as she handed the picture to Mark so he could get a better look.

Mark stared at the image before him. Lexie was right the little tiny blip of white on the image was barely the size of a small piece of fruit. But it was there. Inside Lexie. Growing. He was looking at his potential son or daughter.

"Pretty neat huh?" asked Lexie, after letting Mark take in the deep meaning behind the small sheet of paper.

"It's awesome."

_**Reviews make my day =)**_


	6. Chapter 6

_**So is anyone else sitting here waiting anxiously for the finale Thursday besides me? Man it's going to be good! Speaking about that I'm actually writing a little Mark Lexie one-shot about what I think will happen in the finale, with the spoilers, promos and photos we so far have. Make sure to check that out! I'm warning you guys in advance you're all going to hate me by the end of this by the way Mark is treated =/ I'll admit Lexie acts like a bitch in this chapter. But things will be resolved I promise! Happy reading =) Oh and one more thing vote in the review about what you think the sex of the baby should be!**_

Lexie sat shaking her head as she sat on the exam table with Alex standing next to her and her OB ready and waiting to begin. But who was missing? Mark. Lexie couldn't even believe it. She had fallen for the "hopeless sad eyed needs another shot" routine once again.

"_When are you ever going to learn he never keeps his promises?" _thought Lexie. They had waited almost twenty minute's for him, not including the extra ten minutes he had basically been given when the pelvic exam and her weight was taken. She sighed as she lied down on the paper that covered the table and hastily pulled up her shirt.

Her doctor smiled, realizing that was a signal they were starting. She walked over to the corner and started to wheel over the ultrasound machine. She prepped Lexie's stomach by squirting gel on it and began to turn the machine on.

"Lexie." said Alex. "We should wait for him. Come back and do the ultrasound when everyone can be here."

Lexie shook her head, as she watched Dr. Greene move the ultrasound wand around her stomach until a loud clear thump was heard throughout the room. Lexie smiled slightly as she heard the strong heartbeat of her child. Her doctor continued to look at the screen as she moved around. She then turned the screen towards them.

"I know you both know what you're seeing, but there's the start of the baby's head. It's at the perfect size that it should be forming to at this stage of the game." she said with a reassuring smile. "And there's the chest." she said as she pointed to image.

"Lexie." warned Alex. "He should be here. We all need to ask questions about the test and..." started Alex before he was abruptly cut off by Lexie.

"I'm done waiting for people to be ready. If he's not here then so be it." said Lexie. She turned her attention back to ultrasound screen. She then pointed to the screen.

"There is a healthy 17 week old fetus right there, and right now that's all that I really care about. Is that the baby is healthy and growing."

"_You can't care about him anymore. You need to grow up, move on and do what's best for your child."_ she said to herself with determination. "_You're done with Mark."_

She stared at the screen, as she felt Alex squeeze her shoulder. She looked up at him to see a small smile forming on his face as he looked the screen.

"I'm done."

* * *

Lexie slammed the chart she had in her hands on the counter of the nurse's station, Meredith turned to her, her eyebrows raised slightly.

"Gee I wonder how you're appointment went?" asked Meredith sarcastically, as she took a spoonful of the chocolate pudding she had in her hands.

"Is there a sign taped to my back that says- Just fuck around with me." asked Lexie. "Because lately from everyone that's all I'm getting."

"How's the baby?" asked Meredith as tried to multi-task by filling out a chart, talking to Lexie and eating at the same time. "Everything look's good?" questioned Meredith.

"Why don't you ask Alex? Since he actually showed up. I actually fell for it again Meredith, I fell for him and his whole speech to be better. You want to know the sad thing? This time I _really _believed him. I thought he meant it." said Lexie as she swiped the pudding from Meredith's hand and began to inhale it.

"Sure Lexie have my pudding. I've only had a thirty six hour shift and haven't eaten since last night. No big deal." mumbled Meredith as she scribbled something on the chart and handed it to a nurse. "That doesn't sound like Mark to not show up. Did you check your phone?" she asked.

Lexie stared at her for a moment before pulling out her phone. She quickly opened it to see that she had four missed calls all by him. But no voicemail.

"Yeah I have missed calls but he didn't leave a message saying why he wasn't there." sighed Lexie. "I honestly don't get it." as she shoved her phone back into her pocket.

Meredith went to open her mouth, when she was interrupted by the obnoxious sound of her pager going off. Meredith rolled her eyes as she scanned the small device.

"Honestly these new interns know how to do absolutely nothing at all." said Meredith. "I've got to go. Good luck with Mark." said Meredith.

"Good luck with the interns." said Lexie with a teasing smile. She watched as Meredith's rolled her eyes. Lexie laughed at how her sister's expression said what everyone thought of the new batch of interns.

"On second thought why don't you go deal with them and I'll deal with Mark? It might be easier."

* * *

Mark stood at nurse's desk as he tiredly rubbed his eyes. Last night right at around six o'clock Sloan had called completely freaking out. She had apparently gone into labor six days earlier, but had yet to call Mark. She had also gone through with the adoption but was now regretting and doubting her decision.

Mark tried to reason with her over the phone, but she was clearly very upset and had no one with her. He didn't know where she was and he doubted that she was with her mother, so trying to be a good person and a good father, tracked her down and booked the first flight out to New York. After many hours of Sloan crying and Mark reassuring, she finally realized he had made the right decision. He had quickly hopped on the next flight back, but then it had gotten delayed and he ended up getting back later than he had initially thought he would and missed Lexie's appointment.

He noticed Lexie walk up to the nurses counter, as she smiled and animatedly talked to one of the nurses before handing her a chart. He quickly sucked down the last of his coffee and walked over to her.

"Hey." said Mark with a smile.

The smile Lexie had been wearing moments ago dropped. She quickly turned around, putting her back to him as she wrote on a prescription pad. Mark's face contorted in slight confusion wondering why she was annoyed. He walked around her so he was facing her again.

"How'd the appointment go?" asked Mark. He could tell she was annoyed; he just had to figure out why.

Lexie glanced up at him. _"Do not say anything nice. Do not question where he was. You don't care."_ chanted Lexie in her head.

"Wouldn't you like to know." said Lexie as she resumed writing.

"Actually I would." retorted Mark. "What the hell is your problem Lexie?" questioned Mark in a suddenly louder tone.

"My problem?" shouted Lexie. "My problem is that the possible father of my child wasn't at the appointment today when I specifically asked him to be there. Told him _I_ wanted him there." said Lexie.

"I called you three times. My plane got delayed. I had to go out to New York. Sloan needed me." said Mark.

"Oh now I get it." said Lexie with a fake knowing grin. "I totally get it." said Lexie.

"You get what?" questioned Mark in frustrated tone.

"That Sloan will always come before anything, no matter what the situation is." said Lexie.

"She's my kid Lexie what did you expect?" shouted Mark.

"You know what." said Lexie with a shake of her head. "I guess I expected a lot more." shouted Lexie angrily. "That's what I expected." said Lexie as she shoved the paper into her pocket, beginning to walk away. "But I guess I was wrong."

* * *

"Lexie's pissed off at me." said Mark as he sat down with his lunch in Derek's office. They had both become accustomed to eating in here since Derek had become chief, that way there was not an interruption every five seconds.

"Do you blame her?" asked Derek as he took a bite of his salad.

"I thought you were supposed to be on my side." said Mark.

"I'm not taking sides. It's too messy, she's my sister-in-law and lives in the same house as me and you're my best friend. You two figure it out." said Derek as a knock was heard on the door. "Come in" called Derek

Meredith walked in smiling at her husband sitting at his desk. "Hi. I thought I'd eat lunch in here so we could…." started Meredith before she saw Mark sitting there. "Mark." she said in a monotone voice.

"So now she's mad at me too?" questioned Mark as he indicated towards Meredith. "What is it "All Grey's hate Mark Sloan day." questioned Mark.

Derek let out a chuckle, which immediately was stopped by Meredith's glaring look. Meredith entered the room closing the door behind her and walked over to Derek's desk kissing him on the cheek.

"I would leave because I am annoyed at you but I refuse to sit in that cafeteria and listen to April babble at next table about my husband. "Oh Chief Shepherd said this. Did you know Chief Shepherd did this? Chief Shepherd is just SO amazing." said Meredith in a mocking high pitched shrill voice.

"So she respects me as a surgeon what's wrong with that?" asked Derek.

"Mhmhm." said Meredith as she patted his shoulder. "Sure she does." as Meredith let out a laugh, causing Mark to laugh right along with her.

"What?" questioned Derek, as Meredith and Mark busted into an even louder fit of laughter. They continued to laugh for the next five minutes, each of them trying to stop laughing, but then laughing even harder when seeing each others expressions.

"I forgot for a second that I was supposed to hate you." said Meredith with a light grin, as she wiped the tears that fallen from her eyes out of laughing so hard.

"Okay why do you hate me? And more importantly why does Lexie hate me?" questioned Mark.

"You weren't there for the appointment." answered Meredith simply. She then took a large bite of her sandwich. "Guu shouve's sheemn there." said Meredith through a mouthful of her lunch.

"I called though. I called three times. And then I apologized. She has to understand that my daughter needed me. As much as I wanted to be there I couldn't." said Mark defensively. He sighed as he raked his fingers through his hair. "She won't tell me how the appointment went. Do you know how it went?" asked Mark.

Meredith opened her mouth to speak, but was quickly silenced by Derek's glare. She shook her head. She looked at Derek with pleading eyes. The poor guy had a right to know what was going on. But she was then dishonoring what her sister had told her to keep confidential.

"No I don't know." said Meredith.

"Yes you do." said Mark insistently. "You know something." said Mark.

Meredith once again opened her mouth to speak, nothing coming out as she did so. Derek immediately shot her the same previous look.

"Meredith." warned Derek.

Meredith closed her mouth and nodded, knowing she couldn't be the person to deliver any news about this. She shook her head as Mark let out a frustrating sigh.

"She needs to be the one to tell you."

* * *

Mark quickly walked out of the elevator in hopes of catching Lexie before she left. He basically had her schedule memorized and knew she got off work at eight, but since becoming pregnant Derek had been more lenient to letting her go a few minutes early.

He quickly spotted her, her blonde hair splaying over her face as she leaned against the circulation desk writing something. How did she manage to look perfect doing something as simple as writing? He smirked as her hair fell over he eyes and frustratedly pushed it out of her face. He had to admit as much as he hated the blonde hair, it flattered her. He casually walked over to where she stood, coming up behind her.

"Hey." said Mark.

Lexie turned to look at him. She sighed as she laid the chart down as she quickly collected her things, clearly wanting to get out of talking him.

"I'm still not talking to you." responded Lexie.

"Come on Lexie." groaned Mark. "You're being ridiculous..." started Mark. He knew as soon as the words left his mouth he would be paying for them. She had anger towards him. Not to mention that she hd always had a slight temper when triggered.

"I'm being ridiculous?" questioned Lexie incredously. "That's really funny Mark. Because I'm not the one missing doctor's appointments. _"I'm_ the one who's actually taking this seriously." said Lexie her voice rising with each word.

"How am I not taking this seriously? I wanted to be there. I had to be in New York." shot back Mark.

Lexie laughed with a nod. "Because of Sloan?" questioned Lexie snide laced within her voice.

"Grow up Lexie." yelled Mark.

"Grow up? I'm the only one that is growing up! I'm the one that was forced to make complete change in my life. I'm the one who's no longer in control of her body. I'm the one responsible for this baby." shouted Lexie.

"But that's what I'm saying. I wanted to know when we can have the test done. If we know more we- " started Mark before he was sharply interrupted.

"The freaking test can't be done! It can't be done in utero. My amniotic fluid is too low and my OB refuses to do it. So once again I've been screwed over. But you know what I'm glad. Because that means I can choose who I want this baby to grow up around before it actually gets here. I get to make the decision. Not anyone else. Me. And you know what Mark? I'm not choosing you.

_**I told you that you'd all be throwing things at me! Remember it will turn out good! Reviews make my day =) **_


	7. Chapter 7

_**Long time no update! Hello again, everyone! Well let me just say that the finale inspired me so much I wrote a one shot. And then that one-shot led to a three shot. So I'm obsessed, we already new that =p But anyway, now that I am no longer a student for two months means more frequent updates than before! Wahoo! Alright so this chapter picks up the day after the last chapter. And its nice and long to make up for my lack of updates! Enjoy!**_

Mark sat staring at the flashing television, as he sat home later that night. To be honest he wasn't even paying attention. The thoughts in his head were running too rapidly. What gave her the right to say she got to choose? That was practically his kid.

Mark sighed. There was the whole problem. _Practically. _If she didn't find out now, he'd have to wait until the baby was born. He didn't want to have to do that. He didn't want to miss all the doctor's appointments, or any big moments like the baby's first kick. If this really was his child, he wanted to be there.

He couldn't do this for the next five months. Just sit here and wait and wonder if the baby was his. He needed to do something about it. He _had _to do something about it. He reached for his cell phone that had lazily been thrown on the other side of the couch. He dialed a number that he knew by heart. He listened to the phone ring twice before he finally heard the familiar voice.

"Addison? I need your help."

* * *

Mark tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for the elevator to come up. Addison had just texted him saying that she was on her way up. The elevator dinged and as the doors opened, the redhead was revealed.

"I still adore you." said Mark with a grin as he led her out of the elevator quickly.

"Well at least I wasn't in the middle of breakfast this time." said Addison. "But wait let me get this straight, last time I as here for your kids, kid now I' m here for you or Karev's potential kid." questioned Addison.

"Yep pretty much." said Mark as he led her to the desk where he handed her old id- cared. She quickly clipped it to the top of her skirt as he led her to ER.

"And her OB refused to do the test? Because of the low fluid?" asked Addison.

"That's what she told me. She didn't say much but..." started Mark.

"What do you mean she didn't say much?" asked Addison. "You weren't there? Wait why am I in the ER?" she questioned as she looked around at her surroundings.

"Yeah. Well see… Lexie is kind of not talking to me right now. So she doesn't know you're here to do the test. So I figured…"

"You figured we'd surprise her? The woman who has a high risk pregnancy?" questioned Addison for clarification.

"Yeah." answered Mark hesitantly.

Addison stood there silent for a moment, and then swung her purse sharply into his shoulder blade. An evident scowl written on her face. He flinched back in surprise.

"What was that for?" questioned Mark.

"For being a moron Mark!" screeched Addison. "You didn't even tell her I was coming, let alone that I'd be doing the test." said Addison.

"I didn't tell her because like I said she's not talking to me. She's threatening to me that even if the baby is mine, that I won't be involved." shouted Mark in response, his anger towards the situation unleashing. "I didn't tell her because I knew if I did she'd refuse. Maybe she'll listen to you. But I called you because I need your help. I need to know if this baby is mine. So are you going to help me or not?" questioned Mark.

Addison sighed as she looked at his broken stature. She was not going to be the one to take away his opportunity of being a father. Not again. Not this time. He may be acting ridiculous right now; he may have lost his complete sanity to be quite honest. But she'd do anything she could to get Lexie to do the test.

"Alright I'll help."

* * *

"It's official. I'm fat." said Lexie with a dramatic sigh as she sat in the chair next to Meredith.

The two of them were currently supervising the clinic, watching as the interns scurried along trying not to kill anyone. Meredith rolled her eyes slightly as she signed a release form.

"You're not fat Lexie. You're pregnant." said Meredith.

"Yeah well I feel fat." said Lexie as she poked at her swelling stomach. "I'm so fat that I had to start wearing the elastic band scrubs again, and you know you're fat when you have to wear those."

"Will you stop it." said Meredith with a laugh. "You're not fat. You're just pregnant. Pregnant and…. large." said Meredith with a giggle.

Lexie defensively crossed her arms over her chest, as she watched her sister laugh. Meredith was right, she was big. And she knew that you were supposed to gain weight during a pregnancy, that it was normal, but her whole life she had been averagely petite and now to have an engorged stomach was kind of a big change.

"Remind me to make fun of you when you're fat and pregnant." said Lexie with a teasing grin.

Meredith's smile dropped as she saw who had just entered the clinic. She tapped Lexie trying to get her attention.

"Lexie" said Meredith as she continued to tap her, as her sister continued to rant and rave.

"And you know what?" said Lexie with a giggle. "I'll say I told you so and gloat."

"Lexie!" shouted Meredith, finally grabbing her sister's attention as the two figures approached the desk.

"What?" said Lexie exasperatedly, she followed Meredith's gaze to where Mark and Addison stood in front of her. "Dr. Montgomery….. hi." stuttered Lexie nervously.

She wanted to hate the woman. She really did. How she always looked so perfect and pristine and never seemed to lose self control. But she couldn't hate her, because she'd never been anything but nice.

"What are… what you… um... doing here?" Lexie nervously questioned.

"Well." started Addison as she glanced in Mark's direction. "Mark actually asked me to come down and take a look at the baby, possibly run the test." admitted Addison.

Lexie eyed Mark, as Addison spoke. She quickly stood up, shaking her head franticly, as she grabbed all the files she had with her.

"No. No way. Not happening." said Lexie.

"Lexie." said Mark.

"No do not _Lexie_ me. I specifically told you that I made my decision. That I didn't care what any results said. My choice and I didn't choose you." said Lexie as she pointed her finger at him.

"You can't do that Lexie!" Mark angrily shouted. "That's not fair to me. And it's not fair to Alex. And it's especially not fair to this baby!" said Mark, now shouting angrily, and quickly starting to draw attention.

"That's really funny." said Lexie with a dry laugh. "When did you start caring about Alex's feelings. You're self centered Mark. You want what's best for you when it's convenient for you." shouted Lexie matching his tone.

She was not an aggressive person, but this anger had been bubbling at the surface for god knows how long. It was the anger towards him sleeping with another woman. It was the resentment of how he quickly moved on. There were a lot of key factors playing in this current turmoil of an argument.

"I'll take you to court Lexie. I will _make_ the test be done." said Mark as he leaned and nearly aggressively spit out the words

"Really?" said Lexie, as she leaned in once again matching him. They're faces were near inches apart, even their body language challenging each other. "I'd like to see you try. I'd actually like to see it. I want to… ow. Ow." said Lexie as she stopped midsentence and grabbed her stomach.

The anger literally fell of his face; he reached over the counter to steady her, not wanting a scary repeat of last time. He felt her grip tighten on his arm, willing herself not fall.

"Lexie? Lexie what's wrong?" asked Meredith, clearly starting to panic.

"I… I don't know. I'm just... Ow." said Lexie as she gripped her stomach tighter with her free hand.

"Lexie you need to sit down." said Addison, taking control of the situation, as she watched Lexie begin to panic and both Meredith and Mark freeze. "Grey go get her a wheelchair." said Addison.

Meredith ran off in search of something, as Addison quickly went around to the other side of the desk and helped Lexie sit down in one of the chair. Lexie continued to grip Mark's arm, as he quickly came around, and kneeled beside her.

She felt her mouth going dry. This kind of pain shouldn't be happening. Not this early in a pregnancy. She was losing the baby. She knew it.

"Mark." said Lexie as fear gripped her voice. All the emotions that were there five minutes ago towards each other were put aside. After all this could no longer be an issue.

Time almost seemed to stand still. She watched as Meredith ran back with a wheelchair, mumbling something about paging Alex, but she couldn't focus on any of that. She'd screwed up. There was a good chance she was no longer even a mother. She'd barely been able to protect her child for seventeen weeks. Was it better that this was happening?

"You're going to be fine. Everything is going to be fine." said Mark, not quite sure if he was reassuring himself or her. This baby had to be okay. It just had to.

"Everything's going to be fine."

* * *

Lexie lay in the exam room on the examination table as Addison quickly moved around. The pain had stopped on the way here, which could either be a good thing or an extremely bad thing.

Fear was creeping over her. Fear that she had lost the baby. The baby that she was finally beginning to think she was actually ready for. A baby that would be loved no matter what the circumstance is.

Of course, because her timing with everything was off, Alex was apparently in the middle of surgery and not answering his page. Meredith had run off to go get him, but Addison said they needed to see what was going on now. She had swiftly tied her hair back and was pulling the ultrasound machine out.

Lexie sighed as she covered her eyes with her hands, as she rubbed her eyes in stress, and to prevent the tears she could feel starting to form. Mark must have sensed her being upset, because she felt his thumb trailing her arm in a soothing motion, as he stood next to her.

"Alright I don't have to warn you about it being cold." said Addison trying to lighten the mood as she quickly squirted the blue gel on her stomach. The machine was turned away from her and Mark so they couldn't see anything. Addison pursed her lips slightly as she moved the wand around.

Lexie felt her heart being rapidly inside her chest. She felt Mark lay his hand over hers as she reached and threaded her fingers through his. Whatever problems they might have with each other were currently on hold.

Suddenly everyone in the room heard the best noise on the world. _Whoosh. Whoosh._ Both Lexie and Mark let out a sigh of relief. That sound hopefully meant very good things.

"Is the baby okay?" asked Lexie fearfully as she tried to sit up slightly, trying to get a better view of the ultrasound machine.

"Hold on, lay back down and I'll turn it." said Addison with a reassuring smile. "Everything looks fine. I think the twinges came from the sudden increase in adrenaline and blood pressure. See?" said Addison as she turned the screen to face them.

Mark literally felt his heart stop beating. On that tiny machine there was a baby. A small little thing. He'd of course never been there for when Samantha had these appointments, and Addison…well everyone knew that story, and with Sloan yes it was special because it was his grandson, but this was different. There was a baby there. A baby that he wanted to believe was his.

"Kind of take's your breath away huh?" asked Lexie softly.

She watched as Mark nodded slightly, barely acknowledging Lexie besides the small hand squeeze she felt. She watched as his eyes lit up as Addison went about pointing out the features the baby had begun to develop. She could literally feel herself weakening, as she watched Mark smile at some comment Addison had made about the baby. As much as she wanted to deny it, he was going to be a great dad, and it wasn't fair that she could be holding out on his only opportunity to be one.

"I'll do it." interrupted Lexie, as both Addison and Mark's head turned to hers in confusion.

"Do what?" questioned Mark, with slight apprehension, suddenly realizing what she was about to say.

"I'll do the test."

* * *

Lexie now knew why patients complained. She had been waiting in a bed, in a room waiting for someone to come back to get her for the test. After she agreed to do the test, she was quickly admitted and put in a room. Addison told her they were just waiting for a sterile room to clear so they could go ahead and do the test. She placed her hand over her stomach.

"Okay I promise not to get nervous if you don't." said Lexie as she whispered to her stomach. This was the first time since in her pregnancy that she was actually acknowledging that there was a growing life inside of her.

"Because if you freak out, then I freak out. So let's just keep it calm alright? "asked Lexie as she gently rubbed her stomach. "You know I'm doing this for you. Because even though you're not here yet, you're my first priority." said Lexie with a small smile.

"I wish I could say I knew who you're dad is. I mean we'll find out today." rambled Lexie nervously. "But personality wise you're all over the place. You're stubborn one, but moody like the other" said Lexie with a slight laugh.

She sighed as she slowly realized she was losing it, if she was talking to her unborn child that couldn't respond back. But right now she didn't care. She laid her hand comfortingly over her stomach, as she heard Addison quickly approaching and whispered

"I love you so much."

* * *

"Meredith I'm going in."

"No I'm going in."

"You two are both wrong because I'm going."

For the past ten minutes, there had been non-stop arguing between Mark, Meredith and Alex on who would go in with Lexie for the test. Mark had his reasons, Meredith had her reasons and Alex had his reasons. Unfortunately no one thought the other person's reason's were good enough.

"No one is going in!" shouted Addison quickly silencing them all. "No one emotionally connected is going in there. Anyone who is directly related or associated with that baby is not allowed in." said Addison as she pointed to Mark and Alex.

"What? Addison! Are you kidding?" were some of the immediate responses from both Mark and Alex before immediately shushed when Addison put her hand up.

"You're both not going in there and it's not open for discussion. You know what this procedure entails. Complete stillness and relaxation, if either one of you get her upset or make her nervous it will affect the test and could risk harming the baby." said Addison.

Mark and Alex were both silenced with her final declaration, both ripping off their scrub caps in slight anger and defeat.

"Well what about me? questioned Meredith.

"No immediate family." answered Addison in as much of a professional tone as she could. She knew it sucked being told you couldn't be there for family, but rules were rules were rules and as much as she hated this particular one she couldn't ignore it.

"So who's going to be with her?" questioned Alex.

"Addison? What're you doing here?" questioned Derek as he suddenly appeared. The former loves quickly embraced, each politely kissing each other on the cheek.

"Well I'm here to perform Lexie's test and…" started Addison before her eyes lit up slightly, indicating she was indeed stirring up some sort of plan. "Hey Derek you're not going into surgery anytime soon right?" questioned Addison.

"No. Why?" he questioned.

"Because I need a favor."

* * *

"Derek?" questioned Lexie, as she saw him walk in, fully dressed in his scrubs and his ferryboat scrub cap. "What're you doing here?" as Lexie tried to turn from her current position of lying down.

She was currently being prepped for the procedure, one of the nurses had gone in and swapped her stomach and now they were draping her, so she couldn't see what was going on.

"Don't try to turn around." said Derek with a small smile, as he quickly tied his mask on. "How're doing Lexie?"

"I'm fine. Confused but fine. Is there a specific reason you're here?" questioned Lexie with a confused expression.

"Just doing a favor." said Derek as he watched as Addison indicated they were about to start.

"Alright Lexie you're going to feel a small pinch, as the needle is inserted and then some discomfort. Try not to move okay?" said Addison.

Lexie nodded, as she nervously reached for Derek's hand and he gave it to her willingly. She inhaled sharply as she watched Addison pick up the long needle. God she hated needles. Needles inflicting on herself of course, otherwise clearly she was in the wrong profession. She waited as she felt the pinch, and suddenly a severe amount of discomfort.

"Ow. Ow. Stop. Stop!" cried Lexie as she tried to move around. "Please Addison stop!" she begged.

"Derek get her to stay still." demanded Addison. As Derek put his hands on her shoulders and pressed down slightly so she wouldn't move. "Lexie, we're doing this without a local because it's safer, remember? Don't move." said Addison as soothingly and calmly as she could.

Lexie nodded in response, until she felt a sudden sensation of the needle being inserted deeper. It felt like someone was taking a knife and digging around her stomach. She flinched slightly as tears made her way into her eyes.

"Hey. Hey. No crying." said Derek as he squeezed her hand tightly in reassurance. "Didn't they tell you that doctor's make the worst patients?" joked Derek.

Lexie smiled slightly at his pitiful attempt at a joke. She knew he was trying to distract her, and it was kind of working.

"Did you hear how the house is almost finished? Really all we need to do is move in." said Derek.

"Really?" questioned Lexie, forgetting the current situation and trying to focus on the conversation.

"Yep, it's got the "not over the top because we can't cook that well" kitchen, a big living room, the backyard Mere, the fireplace _I _wanted and five bedrooms." said Derek proudly.

"Wow" said Lexie with a smile. "Any room in there for your sister-in-law and future niece/nephew?" asked Lexie teasingly.

"Always." said Derek as he patted her hand and smiled. "This wasn't my way of saying get out. Lexie you're welcome as long as you want or need to stay." Derek turned dramatically to make sure no one was looking and leaned closer.

"Don't tell anyone I said this because Meredith will kill me, but I think she'd miss you a lot of you moved out. She likes being the big sister."

Lexie felt her eyes water slightly. She was being silly, she knew that. Really you couldn't blame her sudden crying bursts. Well you could, because she was an emotional person, but it could be defined as hormones. But she had always been the big sister, having to have all the big responsibilities. It was nice to have someone older looking out for your best interest and taking care of you. It was comforting.

"Alright Lexie, we've got the 20 ml." said Addison as she quickly finished up and finally pulled the needle out. "You did great." said Addison, an evident supportive smile behind her mask.

She exhaled, relieved that it was over. She felt Derek squeeze her hand, as she smiled sleepily. the whole toll of the day finally taking a toll on her. She had done what she needed to do for her baby, and most importantly she and her baby were both safe and sound. So finally she could relax and sleep.

Lexie moaned slightly, as she felt someone pressing on her stomach. She blinked a few times to adjust her eyes, and then opened them to realize she was in an outpatient room.

"Hi Lex." said Meredith from a nearby chair, as she quickly got up and walked closer to her sister. Lexie noticed that she looked disheveled, like she been asleep or tried to sleep.

* * *

"Hi." mumbled Lexie tiredly. "Mere go home and go to sleep." ordered Lexie.

Meredith smiled at her sister's attempt at an authoritative tone. She pushed her messy hair behind her ear, as she sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Everyone's still here not just me. They're all just outside. Derek and I are waiting to take you home." said Meredith.

"Wait I can go home?" asked Lexie, acknowledging Addison's presence, as the older woman pulled the hospital gown back over small bump.

"Yep everything checks out. I rushed the lab work and the results." said Addison as she indicated to the yellow manila folder by Lexie's feet.

"Wait you got the results already?" questioned Lexie. "How long was I asleep?" questioned Lexie.

"Just a few hours, which is completely normal after that procedure." said Addison with a grin. "But yes you can go. Everything check's out fine. She looks perfect." said Addison.

Lexie's eyes nearly popped out of her head. Had the woman just said she? As in a girl?

"Wait it's a girl?" questioned Lexie.

Addison smiled sheepishly "I hope you weren't waiting. But yes I'm 99.9% it's a girl. Congratulations." said Addison.

"No I wasn't waiting to find out…. wow… a girl." said Lexie completely flustered. "Wow" said Lexie, as she looked at Meredith and they both laughed slightly out of nervousness and excitement.

"Now I don't mean to overwhelm you, but we did get the DNA results. We had Mark and Alex each give a sample of blood, so it's ready whenever you are. You of course don't have to look at them now..." started Addison.

"No" interrupted Lexie. "I want to look at them. Where are they?" questioned Lexie.

Addison indicated to the folder at the end of the bed. Meredith reached over and picked it up and handed it apprehensively to Lexie. Lexie stared at it. What was inside here would forever affect her life. She would know who the father of this baby truly was. The person that would help raise this little baby girl until she grew into a woman. What was in this folder was life changing and completely scary.

Lexie sighed as she un-did the hook at the top of the folder. She was taking a plunge, leaning into the fear as Meredith had once told her. She carefully slid the papers out of the folder. Her eyes scanned through different test results, until she found it. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then opened and scanned the papers. She inhaled sharply as she found what she was looking for.

"Oh my god."

_**I know I'm evil ;) Whose is it? Well you have to wait until the next chapter to find out! Reviews make my day =)**_


	8. Chapter 8

_**So here is another update! I know it took awhile but it's here! Honestly I got stuck with writing this chapter, I knew where I wanted it go but didn't know how, so I went away from it wrote some one shots and came back and… Voila! A chapter was born =) Hopefully that was the end of the writers block for me and I will be able to update more frequently! Happy Reading everyone!**_

Mark didn't know what was going on. All he knew was that Alex had been in there for the past twenty minutes talking with Lexie. About the baby. Or that's what he assumed they were talking about. He sighed as he gripped the paper cup of now cold coffee he held in his hands.

Derek patted him on the shoulder as he looked up. It was then that he noticed the crowd of people that had formed in this little spot of the waiting room. Cristina, Owen, Callie, Arizona, Derek, Meredith, Addison. Even Bailey was there. It was like someone had died.

Everyone had jumped when Meredith and Addison had left the room, thinking that they knew something but they both denied and said that Lexie hadn't said anything. Whether to believe them or not was debatable, but no one was in the mood to argue.

Everyone's gaze shifted as Alex crept out of Lexie room, shutting the door behind him as he left. His eyes met everyone's waiting ones, but he didn't respond. He smiled slightly at everyone, nodded in Mark's direction.

"She wants to talk to you."

He smiled politely at everyone in the room as he quickly left the hallway, leaving everyone confused. Mark sighed as he got up, Derek patting him on the back yet again and Addison squeezing his hand.

You know those moments that people say make or break you? Like when you find whether or not you get accepted into the school of your choice, or whether you got the house you bid on. This was one of those moments. And Mark sure to god hoped this wouldn't be a breaking one.

* * *

Mark knocked quietly as he entered the room, not knowing whether or not to find Lexie asleep or awake. He stepped fully into the room to see Lexie sitting up in the bed, propped up slightly by a large pillow. She looked up to meet his gaze.

"Hi." she said quietly, her voice heavy with exhaustion and emotion.

"Hi." he answered back as he walked over to the bed. He motioned towards, as if to ask if he could sit down. Lexie nodded in response, as he sat himself at the edge of the bed.

They sat there, silence overriding the whole conversation. Lexie wouldn't meet his gaze and was instead focusing on the cotton blanket that had been placed over her.

"So…" started Mark hoping to initiate some sort of conversation between the two.

Lexie's watery brown eyes met his. She tucked a piece of her disheveled hair nervously behind her ear. She let out a small nervous breath.

"So I guess you know that the baby is yours." said Lexie.

Mark felt a happy sigh release inside of him. He had kind of assumed when Alex came out and then had disappeared, and also when she still wanted to see him, but hadn't wanted to get his hopes up. But to hear her say those words. It was like magic. He didn't know what to say in response. Saying "I thought so" made him sound like an arrogant ass, but saying "Well I wasn't sure…." made him sound like a priss. So he just nodded.

Lexie nodded as she wiped her eyes, which were threatening to spill with tears. He wanted to know why she was so upset, but didn't question it. She looked away and sniffled before turning back to him.

"I can deal. With all of this." said Lexie her voice cracking. "I can deal with being a single mother. I can deal with it while completing my residency. I mean I'll have Meredith, Derek, Callie, Arizona, Owen, heck I might even have Cristina. And as much as I thought Alex would hate me. He doesn't. I mean he's not overcome with joy but… he's willing to lend a helping hand when needed." rambled Lexie.

Mark looked at her confused. He shook his head as he asked, "Why are you telling me this?"

"I'm telling you this; because I'm letting you walk away. I'm letting you off the hook." said Lexie as tears filled her eyes. "And it won't be fun, and it won't be easy. But when you walk away I need you to do something. Something for me, okay?" said Lexie.

Mark wanted to stop her. He wanted to tell her she was nuts if she thought he wanted to walk away and abandon his child. He wanted to tell her she wouldn't be doing this alone. That no matter how messed up the circumstances were, this tiny little baby would have two parents. But, clearly she had thought this whole speech through, so he would let he say what she felt she needed to say.

"Walk away not hating me. Live your life. Find someone special. But you can't walk away hating me. Because I'll never forgive myself." said Lexie as she blew out a shaky breath. She swiped at the tears that had suddenly profusely started rolling down her cheeks. "I was a bitch. I know that. I was rude and unthoughtful… but you can't…..

He couldn't sit there and watch her slowly breakdown. Yes she was hormonal, and yes she had everything all wrong, but she was upset and Mark couldn't sit there and watch her cry for something she thought was true. He pulled her into a tight hug careful to avoid her small but painful incision mark.

"Please…. please don't hate me. I'm sorry." cried Lexie as she wrapped his arms around him.

Mark sighed as he soothingly raked his fingers through her hair. He softly shushed her gently rubbing her back with his other free hand.

"I could never hate you."

* * *

"So you're exactly what with Mark Sloan?" asked Meredith curiously as she waited for Lexie to pack her tote bag to take home. It had been almost seven hours since the surgery and Addison had given the all clear for Lexie to go home.

"Nothing. Trust me." said Lexie as she shoved a sweater into her bag.

"Well then why did I see you crying in his arms before?" questioned Meredith with a raise of her eyebrow.

Lexie looked at her slightly incredously. She sighed before saying, "Look Mere. I _really_ hurt him with this whole thing. I mean the man's been through freaking hell and back when it comes to anything having to do with babies. And I'm not the type of person that just says stuff and doesn't have guilt. And it was a lot of guilt at once." said Lexie.

Meredith narrowed her eyes, slightly believing her but at the same time not. "Okay if you say so."

"Believe me I do."

A knock radiated throughout the room, both Meredith and Lexie turned towards the room to see Mark standing in the door way.

"Hey." he said.

Lexie looked at Meredith who was kind of giving him a curt look. She could sense some of the hostility in the room.

"I'm going to go sign those papers and thank Addison." said Lexie as she excused herself.

Meredith waited until Lexie was out of the room before turning to Mark. Her facial expression clearly read "Do not mess."

"As much as you're my friend and my husband's best friend, I would prefer not to be asking you to do this, but Derek and I were both paged to the ER so there really wasn't much of a choice." said Meredith.

"Gee thanks for the vote of confidence Grey." said Mark in a sarcastic tone as he picked up the bag Lexie had left on the bed and held it.

"You know what I mean. She's…. confused. And out of it. This was a lot to process in one day. And you two aren't exactly on the best terms." said Meredith.

"Meredith, I know how to take care of someone. I'm bringing her to your house and watching after her for a few hours, making sure she doesn't do much like Addison said. I swear nothing will happen to her, I will not do anything to make her upset. She'll be perfectly fine with me for a few hours." said Mark.

Meredith looked at him, taking in her very serious and legit response. He clearly really meant what he said. How she knew that? He never called her Meredith so he clearly was trying to prove something. She finally conceded and nodded.

"Alright alright. I get it. She'll be fine." said Meredith with a slight grin.

"Ready?" called Lexie's voice as she re-entered the room.

Mark looked at Meredith once more, her eyes telling him everything without her even opening her mouth. "_You mess with my sister and you're a dead man." _He turned back to Lexie and forced a small smile as best as he could.

"Yeah. Lets go."

* * *

Lexie sighed as she uncomfortably shifted on the couch. She had been told by Mark when they first got home, which was now nearly two hours ago, not to get up at all. She knew he somewhat right, Addison had put her on extremely limited activity for the next forty eight hours as a precaution, but unfortunately Mark was taking limited activity to no activity at all.

She licked her dry lips. She needed a glass of water, and Mark had happened to just leave the room for a minute. She slowly stood up and looked down the hallway before quickly scurrying to the kitchen. She proceeded to take a glass out of the cabinet, considering herself in the home stretch of her little mission when she heard someone clearing their throat behind her. She whirled around to see Mark standing there with his arms crossed over his chest, looking less than pleased.

"What do you think you're doing?" questioned Mark.

"I'm getting a glass of water." responded Lexie as she headed towards the fridge for the water. She was halfway there before she felt her arm being pulled as Mark started to drag her back into the living room. "Mark!" protested Lexie.

"Lexie." said Mark mimicking her tone of voice with a teasing smile. Lexie narrowed her eyes at him as he made her sit down on the couch. "I'll get it for you don't get up." said Mark.

"Mark, Addison said limited activity not no activity. I think I can handle getting myself a glass of water. I don't think it will really affect her or me." said Lexie.

"Did you say her?" questioned Mark, clearly stuck on what Lexie ad just said. "Her as in the baby's a girl?" he questioned.

Lexie put her hand to her forehead. "I completely forgot. I was going to tell you when you came into my room… but I got wrapped up in my hysterical breakdown…" rambled Lexie until she saw Mark's paling face. "Mark? Are you okay?" questioned Lexie. "Do you need to sit down?"

Mark didn't even hear what she was saying. _Girl. _As in daughter. As in little tiny human who happened to be a girl. Yes some people might say you already have a daughter, it'll be easy this time. But they're wrong. It'll be different. He met his daughter somewhat grown up, this daughter wouldn't come home from the hospital a teenager. She would be his tiny little daughter. A tiny infant who had many challenges to eventually face in her life. Challenges as simple from walking to dating.

He nervously ran his fingers through his hair, his breathing slightly slower than it should be as he tried to process all this. He slowly sat down exhaling slowly as he did. "_Keep it together Sloan."_ he reassuringly told himself, hoping it would do some good. But it wasn't. And considering the circumstances, he really was long overdue for some sort of panic attack.

A daughter.

"Maybe I should get _you _the water."

_**Reviews make my day =)**_


	9. Chapter 9

**_So I never meant for it to go this long without updating! After hearing all your feedback to continue I realized I had too. Not just for you guys but for me. Writing this fic, and writing in general keeps me sane from everyday life! But as karam has it the minute I didn't have writers block and wanted to write, my computer started acting up and eventually stopped work completely! Well now it's working like a champ again, but now I'll on vacation from 8/29 - 9/3. I know it sounds like hello and goodbye but it's not! I hope to update within the second week of September or so it might be a little crazy for a little while with me moving back to school. Enough with my rambling! Happy reading everyone =)_**

Lexie sighed as she walked into the hospital the following week. She was sick of pregnancy. She was sick of maternity clothes and she was sick of Meredith nagging her about every little thing she did. She spent her day off yesterday shopping for maternity clothes, something she hadn't wanted to do but had been forced into by her sister, who claimed that all her current clothes were making her look like a pregnant prostitute.

"Hey." said Meredith as she came up next to Lexie. "You're wearing one of the tops." said Meredith with a smirk as they waited for the elevator.

"Shut up." said Lexie with an annoyed glance in Meredith's direction as the elevator pinged signaling it was there and the two quickly boarded.

"Should you be drinking that?" questioned Meredith as she motioned to the cup of coffee in Lexie's hand.

"I needed it. I'm exhausted. Besides I've been drinking decaff my entire time being pregnant. One cup with caffeine won't kill me." said Lexie as she looked up to see the light above the numbers changing as it moved from floor to floor.

"Yeah but Lexie…"started Meredith as she turned her head slightly and gave Lexie a look of somewhat disapproval.

"Meredith!" shouted Lexie as she turned sharply to face her sister. She watched as Meredith backed off slightly hearing the tone of Lexie's voice. "Just please. Not today. Can we just drop it?"

Meredith nodded as they elevator pinged again, signaling that they were both where they needed to be. Lexie turned left, as Meredith was about to go the other way when she called,

"You know I wasn't making fun of the top. It actually looks good." she said with a slight smile.

Lexie self-consciously looked down at the Kelly green, wrap around shirt. She smiled as she rolled her eyes slightly, as she watched Meredith turn around and continue off in the opposite direction. She knew Meredith was just trying to be the "good big sister" and watch out for Lexie. She got that. But she needed a break from being watched like a hawk twenty four seven. She glanced at her watch and noticed that she had ten minutes before rounds started; she quickly turned to go the opposite way and bumped into another body, sending her coffee and her purse flying to the floor.

"Crap." she said as she dropped to her knees, careful to avoid the dark liquid, and began trying to pick things up. It was then that she noticed the other person's legs as they dropped to the floor to help. They were masculine legs, covered in black dress pants. She looked up to meet a pair of sparkling green eyes.

"I'm so sorry." said the man as he handed her back a pad of paper and other few miscellaneous things.

She'd be completely lying if she didn't say that this stranger was gorgeous. With his olive complexion, dark raven hair and emerald green eyes. He was something to look out. Not to mention from what she could tell, his body looked pretty darn amazing.

_"Hormones down Lexie."_ she inwardly scolded.

"It's fine." said Lexie as she continued to stuff things into her bag. "It's not your fault I should have been paying attention to where I was going." said Lexie.

"Well I shouldn't have just stopped in the middle of the hallway. You never know when people are in a hurry." he counteracted with a grin. He held out his hand, to help her up and then transferred it into a handshake.

"Jonathan Harkins."

"Lexie Grey." said Lexie returning the handshake. "First year resident. And apparently not paying attention." said Lexie with a grin.

"New head of Neonatal. And apparently blind. I don't know how I didn't someone as pretty as you heading my way." said Jonathan with a grin, causing Lexie's cheeks to turn a light shade of pink. "Can I l buy you another coffee?" he asked.

"No. It's fine. I shouldn't even be having it anyway." said Lexie as she side glanced at her stomach. She knew he saw it. So why was he making conversation? Flirtatious conversation! "I'm… I'm …uhhh… going to be late for rounds. But it was nice to meet you Dr. Harkins.

"Nice to meet you too." said Jonathan with a smile as he watched her start to walk away. "Grey!" he called after her getting her attention.

She whipped around; a curious look on her face, trying to figure out what he was going to say next. Yes he was that kind of person. The person who you never knew what they were thinking or were going to come out of their mouth. She watched as he smiled teasingly.

"Remember to keep those eyes open."

* * *

Lexie had been paged twice before she had even gotten her scrubs on. Conveniently enough she had been assigned to Mark's services. Again. She would have to make sure to thank Derek for that one later.

She entered the pit to see mass chaos. People screaming, crying. Nurses and doctors running around everywhere.

"Dr. Grey." called Mark's voice as she turned to see him standing behind her. "There's a patient coming in with first degree burns. You're going to need to debrief and bandage them and then you can come help us." said Mark as he nodded in the direction of the stretcher.

Lexie's heart sunk as she watched a small body being wheeled into the trauma room, a group of interns and nurses moving quickly behind it. A really tiny body that had burns covering about 60% of its body. She nodded as he turned and quickly entered the room.

She looked to see the paramedic coming towards her, with what she presumed was her patient. Her heart sunk again as she yet another tiny body. Except this body was flailing and in hysterics.

"Mama!" cried the small child. "I want Mama!"

"4 year old male, second degree burns to the left leg, rapid pulse and possible broken bone to the right arm." shouted the female paramedic as she and her partner wheeled him into the tiny curtained area.

Lexie quickly grabbed a pair of gloves and snapped them on. She had overhead one of the nurses saying there was a restaurant fire that had spread to the buildings beside it. One being a daycare building, an obvious reason for the little people. As she turned to ask the paramedic if the child's mother was around, she realized that they were already gone.

Of course she had worked with kids before, so they're shouldn't be a reason for panicking. For God's sake she had a niece! But she had never really been alone of a PEDS case. They're had always been Dr. Robbins or one of the PEDS nurses, none of whom were here now to the chaos. She slowly approached the small body.

"Hi. My name's Dr… I'm Lexie. Can you tell me your name?" she asked gently.

"Mama!" cried the small boy as he choked on his own words.

"I know you want your mom. How about you let me look at your arm and your legs and then I'll find your mom or you? she asked, trying to distract as she went to look at his leg.

The little boy took his left hand and swatted her away, his cried continuing to escalate even more than they had previously been.

"Mommy!" he cried as he curled away putting his back towards Lexie.

"Can I just take a look at leg?" questioned Lexie as nicely and calmly as she could.

She watched as the little oy inched away from her voice, his back still facing her, still sobbing.

Lexie let out a frustrating sigh as she ripped her gloves off, and threw them in the bin next to her. She crossed her arms over her chest as she continued to listen to the boy scream.

She knew the kid was scared. She understood that. It had to suck at the age of four not to know where your mom was while some strange lady was trying to look at and inspect your body. It was frightening. But if she couldn't a four year old kid, that could talk and respond, how was she going to be able to handle an infant in the middle of the night?

She sighed again as she perched herself on the edge of the mall cot. It was going to be a long day.

* * *

Mark stepped out of the trauma room exhausted. They had lost the patient. The doctor in him knew that the chances of the child making it were slim, but the other part of him had wanted this kid to be that one in million. Kid. What was he saying? That was still practically a baby. Someone who had barely lived. And that's why he was feeling something abut this patient.

He entered the pit to hear a ton of noises at once, but what was heard loud and clear was a child sobbing. He looked to see Lexie sitting on the bed of the patient, the child he was hearing. He walked over towards them, shooting Lexie a questioning look.

"I tried to examine him. And I know I should've just gotten restraints or something but how could you do that to a four year old. And I know the longer the burns sit the more scar tissue there might be but…" rambled before Mark put his hand over her mouth to stop her. She sighed as she stepped back.

"Put on a pair of gloves." ordered Mark.

"What" questioned Lexie confused. "I already told you he won't let…" started Lexie.

"Just do it." ordered Mark as he walked over to the side of the bed. He sat down in the chair next to the bed that faced in the direction the child was laying.

"Mommy" the little boy cried again.

"Hey pal." said Mark, as the boy looked up and acknowledged his presence. "Hi. Can you tell me your name?" asked Mark.

The little boy looked at him with tearful eyes, before he said, "Zachary. But everyone calls me Zack." he said in a quivering voice.

"They do?" questioned Mark with a small smile. "My name's Dr. Sloan but everyone calls me Mark." he responded back. "Can Dr. Grey take a look at your leg?" he questioned.

The little boy nodded as he pulled at the sheets nervously. Lexie nearly gaped at him in shock. She had tried that multiply times and it only took Mark one try. Mark glanced at her, a look that clearly read "Why are you just standing there?" she quickly walked over to Zach and pressed on different parts of his arm. The boy cried out in protest.

"Yeah we're going to need x-rays. I'll have someone page Torres." said Lexie as she moved down to the stool at the end of the bed, and awkwardly sat down. Lately sitting down in general was becoming a little more difficult, but sitting down on small things was another story.

"Alright Zach, I'm going to make your leg feel better, okay?' said Lexie as she moved the instrument tray towards her. "You're going to feel a little pinch." she said as she looked over at Mark with slight concern. She knew the kid was going to scream when she did this, anyone screamed when a doctor did this kind of procedure.

She carefully sliced into the dead skin, as quickly and as she could. She winced slightly when she heard him begin to howl in pain.

"Ow!" cried Zach as a fresh batch of tears made there way down his tiny cheeks. "Mama! I want Mommy!" he sobbed.

"Hey hey hey. It's okay buddy. I know it hurts, but you're going to be okay." soothed Mark as best as he could.

Lexie smiled softly as she watched Mark. It was like she was watching a different person. Yes of course Mark had been sweet with her when they were dating, but this was whole new level of sweet. The way he was with this little boy was kind of endearing and sweet. She looked up at him as he nodded for her to continue. She went back and repeated the same thing.

"Ow!" he cried again. "Mama." he whimpered as he continued to cry.

"Almost done Zach. I'm just going to put some medicine on it and then a bandage okay?" said Lexie as she quickly treated the wounds. She then carefully placed a few sterile gauzes on the bottom part of his leg. "All done." she said with a smile, trying to calm down the child.

All the poor kid continued to do was cry though. Lexie shot Mark a look of pure frustration. Mark then turned and carefully slid the little boy into his arm, careful to avoid his bandaged leg and hurt arm.

"You're okay buddy. We'll find your Mom okay?" said Mark gently as Zach wrapped his god arm around Mark's neck and buried his face into his shoulder.

Lexie watched at how gentle and calm he was with the child. It was like a completely different person. She knew after only spending a few minutes watching him interact with Zach that he was going to make a great dad.

She watched as Mark motioned for her to follow, as he stood up with the boy in his arms and said something about taking him upstairs to x-rays. She nodded as she saw Mark tell Zach where they were headed, and watched as the little boy didn't react much. He had calmed down considerably in the last few minutes and his crying had been reduced to small whimpers and sniffs.

She was officially panicking. How was she going to take care of a baby in five months time? A baby that would rely on her for practically everything. Watching Mark to be honest made her feel worse. She was the one carrying the baby and yet she didn't even know what to do. She couldn't even calm a four year old!

So how the hell was she supposed to be a mom?

* * *

Lexie walked towards the elevator towards the end of her shift, her head still in the clouds. Her and Mark had sat with Zach for three hours until his parents had showed up. It was quite cute to see the little boy's face light up as his parents walked into the room. Would her daughter do that when she walked into a room? She nervously placed a hand on her stomach, as she looked down and quietly spoke to her stomach.

"I promise I'll try." she whispered. She rubbed her stomach gently. The baby was constantly fluttering now, not hard enough for anyone to feel but still enough for her to feel it.

She quickly glanced up, just as she collided into the shoulder of someone else. She snapped back into reality when she realized she had knocked someone's papers to the floor. She bent over as best as she could, and quickly collected them. She looked up as she stood up and met with familiar green eyes.

"You again?" asked Jonathan with a smirk. He offered his hand like he had earlier today and helped her up. "Is this going to become a ritual or something?" he asked.

Lexie rolled her eyes and grinned at his question. "No I promise I'm not normally this clumsy. It's just… it's been a long day. Actually it's been a long moth." said Lexie as she held the elevator doors as she stood talking to him.

"I get it. I have days and months like that too. Well I should make it up to you walking into me. Wait that didn't sound right…" he said with a laugh. "What I meant was.."

Lexie giggled slightly at how completely flustered he was. She smiled at him as she stepped out of the elevator and let it close. She walked towards him, closing some of the distance between them.

"I think what you mean to say was, Lexie can I buy you a drink tonight?" she with a smile.

Jonathan smiled back, and repeated after her. "Lexie? Can I buy you a drink tonight?" he asked with his dazzling smile. "A non-alcoholic drink of course." he said as he motioned towards her stomach.

"Yes." said Lexie. "Yes you can buy me a drink."

Jonathan smiled back at her, as she stepped back into the elevator that had re-appeared. He held the door open with his free arm. "Great. I saw this bar on my way here this morning… Joe's I think it was. Do you know where it is?" he asked.

"I have an idea where it is." said Lexie with a teasing grin.

"Great. I just have to just drop this off and check on a few patients. But I'll meet you there at eight?" he said as he backed up starting to walk away.

"Sounds great." said Lexie as she let the button holding the door close. She gave him a small wave,

"See you at eight."

"See you at eight."

* * *

Lexie smiled at herself in the reflection. She had to admit, for nearly five months pregnant she cleaned up well. After agreeing to meet Jonathan, she realized she had about an hour an a half so why not run home and get changed fast.

She was wearing another one of those tops she had bought but this one was actually flattering. It was a fuchsia pink wrap-style shirt which hugged her nicely and showed off the little bump she did have. She had paired with a dark black pair of jeans, that Meredith had forced her into buying, and a pair of black to the knee leather boots.

She grimaced slightly as she zipped the shoe, knowing that the slight heel on the shoe would be bothering her in an hour but it was totally worth it. They looked hot. She quickly gathered her bag and coat and headed for the stairs.

She entered the living room to see Mark and Derek sitting on the couch drinking a beer watching some basketball game and Meredith on the floor by Derek's feet flipping through some random magazine with her own beer in hand.

She wasn't expecting Mark to be here. I mean she was because he was here a lot because of Derek, in other words she was hoping he wasn't here. She knew Meredith had only worked a nine hour shift and Derek had off today so Mark must've left right after she had.

She cleared her throat getting all of their attention. Meredith smiled at her. Derek gave her a thumbs up and Mark just kind of stared.

"Hot date tonight?" joked Derek.

"Actually yes. Well I think it is." Said Lexie with a grin as she put on earrings and a ring as she spoke.

"What?" asked Mark and Meredith at the same time.

"Well really it's just a drink. Well in my case a soda. But I don't know…." said Lexie with a small smile as she slipped on her jacket.

"Um you're leaving out some minor details. Like who!" said Meredith anxiously.

"Oh... right… the um new head of Neonatal. Jonathan Harkins." said Lexie, a slight blush coming to her cheeks as she said his name.

"Go Lex." said Meredith a laugh. "I saw him today. He's….." started Meredith as Derek looked at her. "Nothing compared to you." said Meredith as she patted Derek's leg reassuringly.

"I know." said Lexie catching onto to what Meredith was implying. "Alright well I got to go. Don't wait up." said Lexie with a teasing grin as she quickly left closing the door behind her.

Meredith and Derek both watched until the door closed and then looked over at Mark who hadn't said anything since he had been told where she was going. He was still, not moving staring at the door.

Of course he knew that just because she was pregnant with his daughter, didn't mean she wouldn't date other men. He just kind of assumed… it was Lexie. As he took a swig of his beer the reality of the situation was setting in. What if this guy happened to be perfect? They would get married and he would be his daughter's father. They'd be a happy little family. He sighed as he ran his fingers along his beard, as he set down his beard. There was really only word that cmae to mind.

"Fuck"

_**Reviews make my day =)**_


	10. Chapter 10

_**So I know it's been nearly two months since I updated. And I'm completely mortified and ashamed that it took me this long to get this up. Ass some of you may or may not know, I am a college student and a busy one at that. So between moving back in last month and getting back into the real swing of things, life flew by. But I assure you this story was never far from my mind! I was always thinking about and feeling guilty about it. So this is the plan I've worked out, it's extremely hard for me to write long chapters and get them up in a reasonable amount of time, so I've decided that I'm going to do shorter chapters, like the one below, but update more frequently. I hope that appeals to you guys more than waiting for long chapters, but it's just easier. Just think about it though it's more chapters and updates sooner! Alright that's enough of me now this note is getting too long. Just wanted to let guys know what was going on and my plans for this story, so now on with the show! Happy reading =)**_

"We're doing what?"

Derek stood in front of his friend completely baffled about what he was saying. Seriously what was he on?

"We're going to Joe's to have a drink and…watch." said Mark as he shrugged on his jacket.

"Watch what?" asked Derek. As the words left his mouth he suddenly realized what Mark was subtly referring to. "So we're going to crash Lexie's date?"

Mark rolled his eyes at Derek's question. For a brain surgeon sometimes he was a little slow. "We're not going to _crash _the date. We're going to _watch _the date." said Mark.

"So we're going to spy." said Derek again.

"Fine. Sure Yes. We're going to spy. Are you in or not?" asked Mark.

"Oh I'm in. I'm definitely in."

* * *

"So can I ask what exactly the two of you are doing?" asked Joe as he handed them their first round of drinks.

"I couldn't even tell you." said Derek as he moved the newspaper down slightly so he could acknowledge Joe. He nodded a thanks and quickly downed a sip before pulling the paper to hide his face again.

"We're watching." said Mark as he quickly pulled down the menu he had covering him and took a long sip of his drink before pulling the menu back up to cover his face.

"Watching who?" asked Joe, clearly very confused.

Both Derek and Mark's index fingers pointing in Lexie's direction. Joe followed their fingers to where Lexie and Jonathan were sitting. The three of them watched as Lexie laughed at something Jonathan had said.

"And why are you "watching" her?" asked Joe.

"Again, I couldn't even tell you. This was his plan, not mine." said Derek.

Joe looked at Mark who was staring from behind the menu at Lexie and Jonathan. He sighed knowing truly why Mark was here. He patted him on the shoulder.

"Good luck guys. Try not to get caught." He said as he moved on to the other customers.

"So that's why you're doing this?" asked Derek with a knowing smirk.

"What do you mean that's' why I'm doing this? What the heck are you talking about?" asked Mark confused to what Derek was even referring too.

"That's why we're here. Not to spy just for the hell of it. We're here because you love Lexie. You love Lexie and you want her back." said Derek with a grin.

"What the hell are you talking about? I'm just here because of the baby… and the… the... Lexie is…" rambled Mark until he finished with a sigh. "Fine. I'm here because I love Lexie." admitted Mark quietly as he finally put the menu down, at the moment not caring if he got caught.

Derek smiled as he patted his friend on the back, similar to what Joe had done a few minutes earlier. He motioned Joe over towards them.

"I think we're going to need another round of drinks." said Derek, as Joe nodded and went off to fix their drinks.

"It's just… she wouldn't be here if she was still interested in me. And I have this sick little fantasy in my head that she'll fall in love with him." said Mark as he motioned to Jonathan. "That she'll find him attractive, charming and dreamy. And then they'll run away and get married and take my kid with them." said Mark.

Joe placed a fresh beer in front of Mark who quickly chugged a few sips, clearly stressed out about this whole thing.

"Mark. You and I both know Lexie. She would never do that. Especially after knowing about the Sloane situation, even if she didn't love you, she wouldn't." reasoned Derek. "And besides, she's not going to marry him. Or fall in love with him. He's too….. perfect."

"Women like perfect." said Mark.

"Yeah but not _that_ perfect. Something… I don't know... something seems off about this guy. And I haven't even personally met him." said Derek. "I honestly think you've got a better chance than him." He added with a teasing smirk.

"Gee thanks."

* * *

Lexie smiled as she listened to Jonathan finish his joke. She was having a great time. Okay so maybe she wasn't having a _great_ time but she was having a good one. And for right now good was acceptable. Good was great. Good was how she'd move on from Mark.

"So have you found out if it's a boy or girl?" asked Jonathan changing topics.

"A girl." said Lexie with a soft smile.

"That's great. Have you come up with any names?" he asked.

"Well…no. I guess that's another thing her dad and I have to discuss." said Lexie as she subconsciously put her hand on her stomach.

"So you're still in contact with her dad?" he asked. "I'm sorry that was really rude. You don't have to tell me, it's none of my business."

"No… No it's fine. I'm… I'm not secretive about it. Uh yeah. I"m still in contact with her father. He actually… he works at the hospital." said Lexie awkwardly as she quickly took a sip of her soda to stop herself from talking.

"Oh. He's another resident?" questioned Jonathan.

Lexie gulped. Why hadn't she just kept her mouth closed. They were on a first date and they were sharing awkward details. There probably wouldn't be a second date because of her and excessive need to share. But it was a little too late to stop now.

"He's the Head of Plastics." said Lexie.

"Oh." replied Jonathan clearly not expecting that answer. He too, awkwardly sipped his drink and popped a few peanuts into his mouth. He quickly recovered though by going, "So are you a Seahawks fan?" he asked.

Lexie smiled and nodded, as she kind of zoned out as she half listened to him enthusiastically talking about his hometown football team. She wondered how many more times she'd have to explain the father story in the next eighteen years. Mark. Mark with is perfect body, his chiseled jaw, his….

"_Stop it Lexie!" _she ordered herself. "_You're here with Jonathan. Stop thinking about him."_

But that was thing she couldn't. She was trying, which was why she was here. She liked Jonathan, really she did. Even if she just met him today. He seemed like a genuinely good guy. The perfect guy. A guy she should be with. But all she could think about was Mark.

Especially his eyes. Those eyes that had every emotion in them. Those eyes that had passion. Those eyes… that she definitely saw sitting on the other side of the bar! She whipped her head to the right, thinking she was seeing things, to see Mark sitting with Derek. She narrowed her eyes in his direction, and muttered under her breath,

"I'm going to kill him."

* * *

"I bought a house." said Mark as he ran his finger around the brim of his glass. "Like an actual house. One with a fence and everything."

Derek nearly spit out the drink he had been sipping on. "You what?" asked Derek again making sure he heard him right, or that Mark wasn't just saying things.

"I bought a house. And I have no idea what I'm going to do with it. Because I had a plan. A plan that involved Lexie and me. Not him. And now I don't have a plan" said Mark as he motioned to Jonathan.

"You really bought a house? You sure this isn't the beer talking?" asked Derek.

Mark shook his head. He may be feeling slightly buzzed from the two drinks he had, but he really had bought a house. The perfect house in his opinion. It had a fence and a big backyard, perfect for little kids. It had a finished basment, a huge master bedroom, four additional bedrooms, a big kitchen and even a living room with a fire place. It was the "American Dream" house. But what the hell was he going to do with the house if he was going to lose Lexie and his daughter to another guy? There would be no point to that gated backyard. No point to the spacious family room.

He watched as her head turned slightly and suddenly he was staring into her eyes. Their eyes locked. And she did not look happy. His eyes widened slightly. He quickly jumped up.

"Run." said Mark as he quickly slammed a few bills down on the counter and grabbed his jacket.

"What? Why?" asked Derek. He followed Mark's gaze to where Lexie was sitting across the bar, to see that she was glaring at them menacingly. "Oh." said Derek as he grabbed his jacket.

"Yeah I know we need to go." said Mark as he watched Lexie tap Jonathan's shoulder and then point over to them as she said something. He watched as Jonathan's head turned and looked at both of them. Derek's eyes widened as he turned to Mark, realizing they had really been caught.

"Run!"

_**Reviews make my day =)**_


	11. Chapter 11

_**So I know it's been long again. But this time I do have a reasonable excuse. This has been sitting, nearly done on my computer for the almost the entire four weeks it's taken me to finally post it. In fact it was supposed to be posted around a week after the last chapter was posted. But then things got complicated, between me getting a new job/ studying and preparing for midterms/ the end of the semester, the weeks ran away! But I'm finally settled and as I post this, I'm already working on the next chapter which I hope to have up in one to two weeks. But anyways, I don't want tot hog all your time, so I'll just say a quick thanks for all the positive feedback and reviews, and I hope you guys enjoy this chapter as well! Happy reading!**_

Lexie sat and stared, as she watched Mark and Derek make a break for it. Her eyes continued to narrow at the door. She then quickly took a sip of her soda, and moved to get off the chair. Jonathan looked at her inquisitively.

"Will you excuse me for just a moment?" she asked with as much of a smile as she could currently force. She struggled slightly with getting of the bar stool with her now "small melon" of a stomach, as Meredith had so kindly put it.

"Yeah absolutely." he said as he extended his hand to help her off the chair. "You want me to come with you?" he asked.

Lexie shook her head as she slipped on her jacket quickly. "No this is something I need to do alone." said Lexie as she quickly left.

She hurriedly walked up the stairs and into the parking lot. Her eyes scanned the perimeter looking for either Derek or Mark's car. Her eyes locked on Mark's silver car, as it was speedily trying to back out of its parking space. She quickly walked over and stood in the direction that the car would be heading, blocking their escape.

"Get out of the car." she shouted angrily.

She watched as Derek and Mark looked at each other, clearly intimidated by the tone in Lexie's voice, and then Derek quickly killed the ignition. Lexie pointed her finger to the ground indicating she wasn't kidding about them getting out of the car. Both of the men quickly exited the car and moved to the spot she had directed at.

She raised the small purse she had in her hand, and whacked it at Mark and then Derek, repeatedly going back forth between the two of them.

"Are you two kidding me?" she cried out angrily. "Seriously! Seriously. What the hell do you think you're doing here?" she asked.

"Nothing. We just… happened to be in the neighborhood." said Mark with a casual shrug.

Lexie looked at him in disgust and whacked him harder with the bag.

"We were spying." said Derek.

"Dude." cried out Mark as he looked at Derek.

"Yes I'm aware of that Derek." said Lexie with a frustrated sigh. She was beginning to see the mastermind behind this plan. "You can go." said Lexie calmly. She watched as Mark turned to go. "_Not_ you." said Lexie as she pointed to Mark.

Derek politely smiled at the two of them and got into the driver's side of the car and began pulling out to the side of the road, outside of the parking lot, clearly trying to give them space without leaving Mark without an escape car/ ride home.

"Why are you here?" she demanded with her hands on her hips. "Are you trying to get me pissed off? Because it's working." said Lexie.

"I'm not. Honestly we were just to hear for a couple of drinks and we happened to see you here, and we just started keeping an eye on you." said Mark nonchalantly.

Lexie shook her head in disgust, an annoyed laugh escaping her mouth. "I don't buy your crap."

"Yeah well I don't buy yours either." he quickly shot back.

"What the hell is the matter with you?" Lexie angrily questioned, in an alarmingly loud voice. She was approaching the point of almost completely screaming at him, but was somehow managing to refrain from doing so. "Like really Mark, I need to know."

"Nothing." said Mark. "Not a thing is wrong with me. It's you I'm more concerned about."

"Excuse me?" questioned Lexie with a raise of an eyebrow, "What's that supposed to mean?" she shot back.

"It means that can't you even see the little spell you're falling under. Big time doctor. Tall, dark and handsome. Not to mention saves babies lives." added Mark with a sneer.

"So? If I remember correctly you _continuously_ slept with a woman that did the exact same thing." said Lexie.

"Because Addison wasn't trying to get me to fall in love with her. This guy is. It's written all over him. He knows he looks good. He knows that girls swoon when he says that he saves babies. _And_ he's the completely wrong guy for you." shouted Mark.

Of course there were the words he wanted to add. The "I'm the right one.", "You love me not him." "Marry me.", all the words that were bottled up and dying to come out. The words he felt confidant saying, knowing that those were his true feelings. But he didn't say them.

"And I know you know he's the wrong guy for you. I saw you in there. You're not even somewhat interested in him. So why, why are you even here?" questioned Mark

"Because I'm trying to get over you!" shouted Lexie. She watched as Mark's face fell, his slightly pursed mouth, clearly trying to come back with something to say, closing in defeat.

"I'm trying to get over you and you're not making it easy." she said softly.

"I thought you were the guy Mark. I thought you were going to be the one that I was going to be with forever. But things happened. And I don't blame you anymore, and I don't blame Sloan. She's your kid. And you would do anything for her. And now that I'm having your daughter, it's heartwarming and comforting to think that you would do anything for someone you love. " said Lexie with a small smile just thinking about it.

She didn't doubt that Mark wouldn't be a good father. In fact, that was currently the farthest thing away from her mind. She knew he'd be great. She also knew her daughter would have him wrapped around her little finger. And that he would love it. And she knew he already loved her more than possible. And she knew he would forever in his lifetime; avoid hurting her in any way possible. So she said,

"But this thing, this thing that you're trying to make work between us, it's too complicated. It's too complicated to try, and it's even harder to try and throw a baby into this. So for the sake of our daughter, we need to move on." said Lexie as the tears she had been holding in slipped out

"Lexie." said Mark softly as he reached out and caressed her cheek. He felt the wet substance glaze his fingers as he gently wiped the tears away. "Lex we can make this work."

Lexie shook her head furiously as she pulled away from Mark's touch and wiped her eyes, trying to be rid of the evidence of her tears. Stupid hormones. Yes this was hard, and yes her being her, she probably would have cried anyway. Let's face it she cried easily and moving on from what she considered the love of her life, would have probably resulted in a breakdown. But her excuse for now, was the hormones.

"We can't." said Lexie.

"But why?"

"Because. It wouldn't be fair to her. God forbid we broke up, or stopped talking. She's in the middle of it. And we wouldn't be good parents anymore. And you know how important it is for a kid to have stable parents."

He knew how she was subtly hinting at what heexperienced and grown up with. And he couldn't argue with her there. He had grown up with one of the most unstable set of parents to ever grace the world. And he didn't want that for his little girl. He wanted her to have two parents, that even if they weren't romantically together, they would be there together for her.

But the shuffling her around thing didn't seem fair. How would he even be helping if they were living in separate houses? How would he know her schedule, her routine, the certain things that would put her back to sleep at two am, if he wasn't there to witness what didn't work. Point blank, how would he even know what to do? This was new and terrifying territory, for both he and Lexie, and even if they weren't romantically involved, wouldn't they need each other? As friends? As good co-parents? To swap turns in the middle of the night when their newborn daughter was screaming. How would they do that if they lived in separate households?

"I bought a house." he blurted out; figuring now would be a good a time as ever.

"What?" asked Lexie with a confused look on her face. "That's great…" said Lexie clearly confused on where this was going.

"I bought a house. A big house. A house that's perfect for a kid to grow up in. And we could raise her there. Together. As friends. You would even have your own room. But we would both be there twenty four seven. She would never be shuffled. She'd be living a normal live." said Mark with an excited smile, clearly proud of the wonder idea he'd managed to just produce.

"I….. I… I don't know what to say." admitted Lexie.

"Say you'll at least think about it."

Lexie nodded a somewhat far-away look on her face as she tried to processed what had just happened throughout this entire argument/discussion. They'd gone from her screaming at him, to her crying in his arms.

"Alright. So I'll see you tomorrow." said Mark as he leaned in and kissed her cheek. "Good night Lex." he said before walking off to Derek's waiting car.

Lexie sighed as she watched him walk away. How was she even mad at him in the first place? His mouth hadn't even touched her lips and yet she was still weak in the knees. How did he even manage to do that? Well there was one thing she positively sure of,

So much for getting over him.

_**Reviews make my day =)**_


	12. Chapter 12

_**So I know I promised last weekend and it's been a week, but better late than never right? It was a crazy week before the holidays and it got crazier as the week went on, but the chapters here, and longer than originally planned! It's my holiday present to you guys for being so patient and waiting! Have a very happy holiday with whatever you celebrate and I'll hopefully see you all before 2010 is over! Happy holidays!**_

"You look like crap." said Meredith as she entered the kitchen to see Lexie practically falling asleep at the island, her head using her toast as a pillow.

"Gee thanks." said Lexie sarcastically as she brushed the crumbs out of her hair. "I could've sworn I looked like a million bucks."

"Were you up all night again?" questioned Meredith as she poured herself a cup of coffee. "Lex that isn't good for the baby to not be getting sleep."

"I know." Lexie somewhat snapped back irritably. She sighed as she ran her hand along her temple in attempts to calm herself. "Sorry I didn't mean to snap. I'm just trying to figure out what's going to be good for the baby _once_ she's actually here. I'm just…"

"You're still worrying about Mark's plan. You're worrying that it will affect your daughter. You're worrying it's going to affect you." said Meredith knowingly.

Lexie crinkled her brows, almost confused. "Geez how'd you even figure it out? You remembered all that from what I told you? Or am I that easy to read?"

"Yes… well sort of. You've kind of been mumbling things about it when you actually do fall asleep. About Mark, the baby a house. None of it makes sense unless you're actually listening." said Meredith.

"Great. So now if I past out at work from exhaustion everyone will know my life? Just what I need." said Lexie.

"Well I think you'll be fine once you make up your mind." said Meredith as she quickly finished what was left of her coffee. "Look Lex, you're a good mom to this baby already and she's not even here. You worry about her constantly and you're trying to make this the best possible arrangement for her. Whatever you pick, will be right. You already know what's best." said Meredith with a small smile as she reassuringly squeezed Lexie's shoulder before leaving the room.

Lexie sighed as she stood up from the chair, her body protesting as she did so. Meredith was right. She did need to make up her mind. And whatever choice she made would be right. Or at least she hoped it would be.

* * *

Lexie nearly dragged herself into the hospital. She was beyond exhausted. She had surpassed that hours ago. She was what you would call exhausted to the max. She sighed as she slowly walked out of the resident's locker room after changing into her scrubs, her stomach leading her slightly.

That was another thing, her stomach was getting bigger. And she knew it was supposed to be and it was the 'miracle of life" and blah blah, but it was harder and harder to do things, it was getting in the way, and a lot of extra weight to lug around.

"Hey." said Mark as he walked up along side her at the nurse's desk.

"Hi." mumbled Lexie back in response as she rubbed her eyes, hoping to rub the tiredness out.

"You okay?" questioned Mark as he watched her exhausted stature. He watched as stretched her arms up, in attempt to wake herself up.

"I'm fine just tired. Didn't sleep much." said Lexie with a small smile. She watched as Mark's eyes narrowed at her, not liking her response. "Last night. But I am sleeping. Nothing's wrong. I'm fine the baby's fine. I promise."

"Okay." said Mark, half buying it. "Well I'm sure you could use this if you're not fully awake." He said as he handed her a cup of coffee and a raspberry muffin. "Decaff of course. And you still like that right?" asked Mark referring to the muffin.

Lexie smiled and nodded. She couldn't believe he had brought her breakfast. She couldn't believe he even remembered what she liked. Yeah they'd been together almost a year, but Mark was a man, men don't remember small details like what their ex-girlfriend used to eat fro breakfast. She took a long sip of the hot liquid and then began to tear into the small pastry bag.

"This isn't bribing me to move into the house?" asked Lexie as she broke a piece of the muffin and popped it into her mouth. "Because if it is, it might just be working."

Mark grinned as he watched her mood perk up slightly. "No it's not. But if it helps I'll always have them there." he said jokingly.

Lexie laughed slightly as she took another sip. For a moment, there a somewhat awkward tension sitting there. He obviously wanted to know if she mad up her mind. So she wasn't surprised when he asked,

"Have you decided anything yet?"

"I'm still thinking about." She answered. "I promise I'm really considering it. I do think it's a great idea… I'm just sitting on the idea… thinking about it." babbled Lexie.

"Alright." said Mark grinning slightly at her rambling. God how it was the small little things she did that made him smile like an idiot. "Don't worry about it Lex. Take your time." He said as his pager went off.

"I got to go." he said as he looked at his pager. "But… maybe we could meet up after work? See if you've come to a conclusion."

"Yeah… umm…yeah I think I'll have figured it out by later. I'll meet you at Joe's at seven" she asked.

"Yeah. Sounds good." He said with a smirk as he walked into the nearby elevator doors. "I'll see you then." He said as the doors closed.

Lexie sighed nervously as soon as he was out of sight. Tonight? She had to decide what was the best living situation for her daughter by seven o'clock tonight? _"You're the one that suggested tonight idiot!"_ she scolded to herself. She groaned as her pager went off. All she knew was that it was going to be a long day, and she had a decision to make. A big one.

* * *

Mark frustratingly snapped his gloves off his hand as he walked out of the exam room. He had lost a freaking patient. There had been a mother, who was a drug addict and she was cooking… well everyone knew the rest. But that wasn't the point. She had been brought in with a kid, her sixth month old daughter to be completely correct.

It wasn't the fact that she had died. As horrible as it sounded, as a doctor you learned to deal with the deaths. Not all of them but some of them. But in this case, she knew what she was doing. She knew it was dangerous. What was irritating him was that he couldn't save someone's mother. He knew what it was like to be basically parent-less and it freaking sucked. He wasn't sorry for the mother, he was sorry for her little girl. A little girl, who until her father arrived from Portland in the morning, would be all alone.

He sighed as he walked onto the elevator and hit the button to go up to PEDS. He'd promised Arizona he'd check on the baby, who was thankfully fine minus a few little scratches and a tiny first degree burn on her leg. Arizona would have of coursed checked the baby out herself, but since the little girl wasn't critical she wasn't priority at the moment and she was in surgery.

He exited on the PEDS floor and walked to the main nurse's station there. They were all so peppy and happy up here, even if the kid was terminal. Happy. All the freaking time. And it was times like these where he couldn't stand it.

"Gracie Reynolds's chart please." said Mark in as pleasant of a tone as he could muster. This wasn't his field. Don't be misunderstood; compared to a few years ago when he despised squishy and pink little people, he actually liked them now. He was having one of his own. But he wasn't a happy person twenty four seven like you needed to be to work in PEDS. The nurse smiled and handed him her chart and pointed her in the direction of the nursery she'd be in.

Mark followed the woman's hand and walked over to the nursery where he assumed she would be. This nursery had mainly babies around the same age as the little girl was supposed to be, but they were all either recovering from surgery or about to have surgery. The PEDS floor didn't essentially have an "ER" so they stuck kids and babies in whatever room was appropriate. He opened the door quietly, to ensure he wouldn't wake anyone sleeping and scanned the nametag labels until his eyes landed on,

_Gracie Reynolds._

He walked over to the small crib and looked to see probably one of the cutest babies he'd seen. There was the little girl lying in the bed, looking relatively calm and anxiously kicking her feet away. She had these deep little emerald green eyes and blonde wispy hair.

"Hi Gracie. I'm Dr. Sloan." said Mark knowing he wouldn't get a response. He smiled when she kind of gurgled back. He then unlocked the crib and pushed it towards and examination room, so he wouldn't disturb anyone else. He entered the room and carefully lifted the baby from the crib to the exam table.

She'd had a complete workup when she had been brought in, and all he needed to do was look at her leg. He looked at the small burn on the bottom of her leg. First degree, maybe not even, but because of her age most likely wouldn't leave a scar.

"Guess what no needles." said Mark as he tickled the little girl's belly, promoting her to let out a giggle.

He smiled and carefully reached over to the table and grabbed small gauze and some things to clean it. He poured antiseptic on a cotton pad and had put it on her leg for nearly a second when the baby let out a strong cry.

"_Crap!"_ he said inwardly. He frantically looked around for something to make her stop crying. Her protesting cries increased the longer he held the alcohol there.

"Just two more second Gracie." said Mark soothingly." Shhh." He said trying to console her, and failing miserably. He then removed the alcohol soaked pad and reached for gauze and a bandage, the child's cries increasing.

He sighed not knowing what else to do. He then at sudden last resort slipped off his glove and gave the infant his finger. That seemed to reduce her cries somewhat, as he quickly placed the gauze and wrapped the bandage, sighing in relief as he finished.

"Okay we're all done now." said Mark in as happy and as cutesy of a voice he could muster. "All done." He said as watched as he released his finger and the little girl's cried increased.

It then hit him. She wasn't crying from the pain, maybe at first, but she was crying because she wanted comfort. He'd never really believed anyone that said babies sensed everything, but this child definitely was. She knew something was up and she didn't like it. She wanted comfort.

He then carefully lifted her up into a sitting position and picked her up underneath her arms and put her against his side, and gently rubbed her back. He noticed immediately that her cries began to simmer. She had been reduced to a whimper and an occasional hiccup. He gently ran his index finger through her wisps of hair. If it worked on Lexie it would work on her right?

"It's okay. Everything's going to be okay."

* * *

Lexie grinned as she handed one of the PEDS nurses a chart. She'd just had a very successful surgery that basically gave a six year old girl a new chance at life. She loved surgeries like that. She was on a freaking high! A high of life.

As she turned to leave the desk, something out of the corner of her caught her attention. She turned and looked into the glass window of an exam room and saw Mark coddling a small baby. Her heart almost melted into a puddle of goo on the floor. There was Mark standing in the room, in his scrubs, holding and rocking an almost sleeping baby. She watched as every so often he whispered to the top of the infant's forehead, and gently ran his fingers through the wisps of baby hair.

He was perfect with her. Like he'd been doing it for years. He held the baby with ease and was calm. It was like something out of some parenting magazine.

In that moment, her decision wasn't even a decision. It wasn't even questionable. She knew what she had to do.

She was moving in with Mark Sloan.

_**Happy Holidays! Reviews make great Christmas presents ;)**_


	13. Chapter 13

_**So I have an EXTREME amount of explaining to do…. Hi everyone! I'm back =D I know it's been way to log, almost five months to be exact. Which is nuts, and which is also why if people have lost interest in this story I will completely understand. But even though Shonda has pretty much given up on this couple, I haven't! Which is why I needed to update. To make any sort of excuse for my absence the really only true ones would be family issues/ me trying to graduate school early. Alright enough of my babbling. Happy reading =D**_

Lexie walked in the loudness of Joe's later that night. She was late. One of Arizona's post-ops had decided it would be fun to code; she spent the last hour making sure the patient's vitals were in normal ranges before Arizona had given her the all clear to go. She sighed as she slipped off her jacket as her eyes roamed the bar. He had left. He hadn't waited.

It was then that she spotted him in his black v-neck sweater causally leaning against the bar talking to Derek and nursing what she presumed was a scotch. She walked over to hear the end of a ridiculous story Derek had been telling Mark.

"Hey." said Lexie.

"And that's my cue to go." said Derek with a smile as he patted Mark on the back and squeezed Lexie's shoulder before exiting.

"Sorry I'm late." said Lexie as she threw her jacket over the top of the chair. "Some six year old boy thought it would be entertaining to code five minutes before I was supposed to leave." said Lexie with a dry smirk.

"Is he okay?" asked Mark as he motioned at Joe who got the message and set off to get Lexie's drink.

"Yeah. Yeah he's fine. It's just been a long day." said Lexie as Joe slid her drink onto the counter. She smiled at him in response before taking a gulp of the ice-water. It was after days like these where she was so exhausted, all she wanted was a beer. How she missed those days of drinking. "How was your day?"

"My day. My day was slow. I had only one surgery and it was in the afternoon. The rest of the day I just... hung around." said Mark causally not wanting to admit he'd sat with Gracie for nearly three hours.

"Hung around?" questioned Lexie with a teasing tone. "You're surgeon how can you just hang around all day.

"I don't know." said Mark with a shrug still not saying anything about the day's events.

"You don't know?" questioned Lexie as she and Mark shared a grin. "I saw you with that baby in PEDS earlier today." She admitted.

"Oh yeah. She was one of my patient's today." said Mark.

"You were really great with her." said Lexie encouragingly. She knew Mark hated talking about feelings and cute things, even with her. He never would admit how natural he was with her, or how she knew he loved having the feeling of a baby is his arms. But she knew.

"I just picked her up." said Mark with another shrug. "She just needed to be held."

"I wouldn't have known to do that. You were good with her Mark. You're good with kids in general." said Lexie as she squeezed his hand gently. "I would love to move in with you."

That wasn't the way she had wanted to say it. It had come out sounding like just because he was good with kids was the reason she wanted to move in. When there were so many more reasons. Reasons that went with feeling. Reasons that went behind how she wanted their daughter to be loved, reasons she thought he wouldn't see and would think she was taking advantage of him with his house and impromptu baby skills.

But as she watched his eyes light up, and a smile that crinkled all the way to his ears appear on his face, she knew he hadn't taken it that way. That's how well he knew her; he could understand what she was saying when even she couldn't.

"You mean it?" asked Mark, his voice resembling a young child who was told they could pick out any toy in the whole store. "Are you serious?"

Lexie grinned and nodded. Mark reached out and cupped her face between his hands. She felt him stroke her cheek. She felt that tingle in her spine she always got when she knew he was about to kiss her. A spark she liked to call it, and then suddenly his lips were on her forehead.

"Thank you Lex." He whispered against her skin.

Mark turned towards the bar, motioning for Joe for another round of their drinks in lieu of the celebration. Lexie half smiled as he turned and grinned at her excitedly and then turned back when Joe had finally walked over.

She was disappointed to say the least. She had actually wanted him to kiss her. She closed her eyes and shook her head.

"_It's in your head; you don't have feelings for him anymore. It's hormones Lexie."_

* * *

"Abigail?"

Mark made a face as he set the box down on the floor. This had been going on for the last couple of hours, Lexie reading off names as he finished moving in the last of the boxes into the living room. Lexie sat perched on the armchair, her feet curled underneath her with a book titled "_100,000 Baby Names"_ in one hand and a red pen in another.

Lexie laughed slightly as she watched his facial expressions, she clicked on the pen and swiped an x by the name.

"By the look on your face I'd say that one's out."

Mark nodded as he went back outside to grab another box; Lexie flipped the page in the book and scanned the page until she found one that caught her interest.

"Anastasia?"

Mark re-entered the room with another box and once again with a slight grimace on his face after hearing the name.

"Too exotic." He replied.

Lexie rolled her eyes slightly at his response. All day it had been "Too boring." "Too ordinary." "Too unique. "Too this. "Too that" Mark was way _too _picky.

"Alyssa?" she asked, as she tried again.

"One of the girls I went to prom with was named Alyssa." said Mark with a grin, clearly having a flashback or memory to his prom night. His face then fell slightly at the details of that night. "Yeah we can't name her that. That would be… wrong on so many levels."

Lexie sighed in slight annoyance as she slapped the book down on her lap. "Just go get another box." she said with a frustrated tone.

"That was the last one. We're all moved in." he said as he sat on the carpet in front of her.

Lexie looked at him almost in shock as she picked the book back up and saw just exactly how many red lines she had marked in the book.

"You mean to tell me that we've basically gone through a whole book and we couldn't find one name. Mark that's crazy! We're being too picky." said Lexie as she flopped the book down on the ground in his direction.

"Alright calm down. There's got to be some names in this book we didn't see. He flipped through the book, scanning a few pages, repeated the same thing until he found something. "Aha. I found one. Olivia."

Lexie cocked her head to the side slightly as she pondered the name. "Hhm." She mumbled. "I like that one." She said with a small grin. "Here let me see if I can find another one." She said as she held her arms open, indicating him to toss the book.

He tossed the book towards her gently, as she caught it with ease. She then did what Mark had done moments earlier, scanning the pages for something un-marked; she flipped through some of the book until she landed on a name.

"What about Natalie?" she questioned.

Mark shrugged his shoulders, thinking about the name, and then nodded in agreement. "Yeah I like that one too. See we have the start of a list. And we'll come up with more."

She sighed and nodded her head as she closed the book and threw it to the opposite side of the room on the other armchair. "You're right I'm stressing too much about this. I mean we have almost four months to still decide, right?" she questioned.

"Right." agreed Mark.

Lexie grinned and stood up, stretching her arms up. "Phew this whole moving thing really makes you thirsty." She joked.

"Yeah I know. With all the boxes you moved you really should take a load off." said Mark with a sly grin.

"Watching was just as much work." said Lexie as she patted him on the shoulder, Mark still continuing to sit on the carpeted floor. "I'm going to get a drink, you want one?" she asked as she headed towards the kitchen.

"No thanks." He called back as he watched her disappear into the next room.

He looked around the room at the few things that had been un-packed and the boxes. They were finally finished moving in. Alright, so they had a lot of unpacking to do and lots of furniture to assemble, but Rome wasn't built in a day right? This was their house. Where they would raise their little girl. Hopefully together as a couple if Mark had anything to do with it. Mark was quickly pulled from his thoughts as he heard the sound of glass crashing. He immediately jumped up nearly sprinting towards the kitchen and arrived to what he presumed was a glass shattered all over the floor.

He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Lexie gripping one side of the newly purchased kitchen table, her other hand on her stomach, as she stared down at the glass at her feet that had shattered into millions of tiny pieces. He could care less about the glass; it was Lexie's facial expression that was scaring the crap out of him. Her face read pain. All he could think was, the baby.

"Lexie. Lex. Talk to me." as he walked quickly around the pile of glass to get to her. He reached out and gently grabbed her arm with one hand and placed the other on the small of her back leading her to the nearby chair, figuring that currently the best thing to do was sit down. He then bent down on in front of her. "Lex you need to tell me where it hurts."

Lexie shook her head back and forth furiously. She swiped at the tears she felt pooling in her eyes. "Nothing hurts. She just kicked. The baby just kicked." said Lexie with a watery smile.

Mark's eyes went wide and lit up slightly. His exterior visibly relaxed when he realized it wasn't an emergency situation. He let out a small sigh of relief and then chuckled slightly. He reached up with his thumb and brushed away the few tears that had quickly escaped her eyes.

"So what's the matter? This is a good thing. It means she's healthy and active." He reassured.

Lexie nodded her head in agreement. "No I know that. And I didn't mean to get that freaked out or upset, I'm blaming the hormones." She said with a small laugh as continued to wipe her eyes of tears. "It just makes it even more real. Like I'd of course realized that there was a baby growing inside of me, but this just confirms and makes everything extremely official."

Lexie then grabbed his hand and guided it to the small bump on her stomach and placed it where she had last felt movement. Mark looked at her questioningly.

"Lexie she might've moved a few minutes ago but she might not-" started Mark before he was cut off by the thump he felt against his hand. He looked up at Lexie with a grin, his entire face beaming. "She's really there."

"She really is."

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